hazel

Corylus avellana

• Deciduous shrub with multiple stems
   
• Grows to some six metres tall
   
• Smooth, brown-grey bark that splits and flakes with age
   
• Distinctive round, slightly hairy, pointed-tipped leaves
   
• In spring it develops yellow catkins

Female catkins look more like leaf buds with red styles protruding from the tip
 
The edible nuts, held in green, leafy cups, turn brown when ripe
 

Where found

Found throughout the UK in woodland, scrub and hedgerows.
 

When to look for

• Flowers January-March
   
• Leaves in April
   
• Leaves drop in November
   
• Ripe fruit in October
   

Did you know?

The Celts believed that hazelnuts were a source of wisdom – the Gaelic word for the nuts was cno, with the word for wisdom being cnocach. They had an ancient tale of nine hazel trees that grew around a sacred pool. Salmon living in the pool ate the falling nuts and absorbed the wisdom. The number of bright spots on the salmon’s skin showed how many nuts they had eaten.