PLANT OF THE MONTH: Hazel
- Helen Harris
- Oct 31, 2025
- 3 min read
Scientific name: Corylus avellana
Habitat: Hazel is widespread in Northern regions of Europe and Western Asia. It thrives in hedgerows the dappled woodland shade, often present in ancient woodlands as part of the understorey alongside oaks and field maples.
Description: Hazel typically produces multiple stems at ground level, so technically is categorised as a shrub rather than a tree with a base area of up to 2m diameter and a dense low level understory. It is a short-lived tree, reaching 50-70 years in age, but if it is coppiced, either by people or naturally through damage to its trunks, it will live much longer (up to a few hundreds of years)
The bark is smooth and shiny, and greyish-brown in colour. The trunks often support a diverse range of mosses, liverworts and lichens some of which are very rare, especially in the wetter parts of its range*.
The leaves are roundish in shape, with a point at the end, and are about 10 cm across. Leaf edges are doubly serrate and the leaves are hairy with a rough texture.
Hazel is monoecious, meaning that both male and female flowers are found on the same tree. Male flowers are pale yellow catkins. They open in February, before the leaves unfurl so they are one of the first obvious signs of spring in the forest.
Ecology: Hazel is a member of the birch family of trees, Betulaceae
Hazel trees are important for biodiversity. Their dense foliage and the tangle of stems offer shelter for nesting birds, small mammals, and insects. Coppiced hazel also provides shelter for ground-nesting birds, such as the nightingale, nightjar, yellowhammer and willow warbler.
The nuts, commonly known as cobnuts or filberts, are a vital autumn food source for dormice, squirrels, woodpeckers, and jays. The catkins, which appear in late winter, are among the first sources of pollen for bees emerging from hibernation.
Hazel leaves provide food for the caterpillars of moths, including the large emerald, small white wave, barred umber and nut-tree tussock.
Folklore and Myth: Hazel is associated with wisdom, divination, and magic. In Celtic tradition, hazel was the tree of knowledge and inspiration. The legend of the Salmon of Knowledge tells of a magical fish that gained all the world’s wisdom by eating hazelnuts that fell into a sacred pool. Only those who ate the salmon could share in this wisdom.
Hazel rods have long been used as dowsing sticks to find water, minerals, or hidden treasures. The tree’s association with protection led to hazel being planted near homes to ward off evil spirits and lightning. In some regions, hazel nuts were carried as charms against rheumatism and for good luck.
Traditional uses: It is well adapted to coppicing, a traditional woodland management technique where the stems are cut at ground level to encourage growth of more, straight poles. These have a variety of uses, notably for the wattle panels in traditional wattle and daub building (and in our very own Hub) as well as hurdle fence panels and in basketry and charcoal production.
Archaeological evidence from pollen analysis has shown there was a rapid expansion in the range of hazel during the Mesolithic period (from 11,000 to 6,000 years ago). Because the large nuts are not dispersed over great distances, this has led to speculation that Mesolithic peoples may have transported the nuts with them as a food source, and thereby aided the expansion of the tree’s range.
Hazelnuts have been gathered for millennia and enjoyed as a nutritious food, eaten fresh, roasted, or ground into flour. Twigs were used in rural medicine, believed to treat ailments such as coughs and rheumatism.
* For this reason in wetter temperate rainforest areas of its range coppicing is not recommended.
Sources
Comments