A Druid teacher, in his bid to become omniscient, caught one of these special salmon and asked a student to cook the fish, but not to eat it. There are numerous variations on an ancient tale that nine hazel trees grew around a sacred pool, dropping into the water nuts that were eaten by salmon (a fish sacred to Druids), which absorbed the wisdom. The Celts believed hazelnuts gave one wisdom and inspiration. See also: Salmon of Wisdom and The Boyhood Deeds of Fionn Animals which eat hazelnuts include red deer, dormouse and red squirrel. In the UK, five species of moth are specialised to feed on hazel including Parornix devoniella. Several rare species of Graphidion lichen depend on hazel trees. Lactarius pyrogalus grows almost exclusively on hazel, and hazel is one of two kinds of host for the rare Hypocreopsis rhododendri. Hazels are used as food plants by the larvae of various species of Lepidoptera.Īt least 21 species of fungus have a mutualistic relationship with hazel. The tree can be coppiced, and regenerating shoots allow for harvests every few years. Hazel is a traditional material used for making wattle, withy fencing, baskets, and the frames of coracle boats. avellana 'Pendula') and with purple leaves ( C. avellana 'Contorta', popularly known as "Corkscrew hazel" or " Harry Lauder's walking stick" from its gnarled appearance) with weeping branches ( C. Ī number of cultivars of the common hazel and filbert are grown as ornamental plants in gardens, including forms with contorted stems ( C. Nuts are also harvested from the other species, but apart from the filbert, none is of significant commercial importance. The common hazel is the species most extensively grown for its nuts, followed in importance by the filbert.
The nuts of all hazels are edible (see hazelnut). Hazel coppice in winter at Bubbenhall in Warwickshire, England The oldest confirmed hazel species is Corylus johnsonii found as fossils in the Ypresian-age rocks of Ferry County, Washington. Several hybrids exist, and can occur between species in different sections of the genus, e.g.
Corylus cornuta – Beaked hazel, North America.Corylus colchica – Colchican filbert, Caucasus.Involucre long, twice the length of the nut or more, forming a 'beak'.
Corylus yunnanensis – Yunnan hazel, central and southern China.Corylus heterophylla – Asian hazel, Asia.Corylus avellana – Common hazel, Europe and western Asia.Corylus americana – American hazel, eastern North America.Involucre short, about the same length as the nut.Nut surrounded by a soft, leafy involucre, multiple-stemmed, suckering shrubs to 12 m tall.The circumscription of species in eastern Asia is disputed, with WCSP and the Flora of China differing in which taxa are accepted within this region, only those taxa accepted by both sources are listed below. The pollen of hazel species, which are often the cause for allergies in late winter or early spring, can be identified under magnification (600×) by their characteristic granular exines bearing three conspicuous pores. The shape and structure of the involucre, and also the growth habit (whether a tree or a suckering shrub), are important in the identification of the different species of hazel. The fruits are nuts 1–2.5 cm long and 1–2 cm diameter, surrounded by an involucre (husk) which partly to fully encloses the nut. The male catkins are pale yellow and 5–12 cm long, and the female ones are very small and largely concealed in the buds, with only the bright-red, 1-to-3 mm-long styles visible. The flowers are produced very early in spring before the leaves, and are monoecious, with single-sex catkins. Hazels have simple, rounded leaves with double-serrate margins. The genus is usually placed in the birch family Betulaceae, though some botanists split the hazels (with the hornbeams and allied genera) into a separate family Corylaceae. The hazel ( Corylus) is a genus of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere.
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