Hazel

Corylus avellana

Family · Betulaceae · Harmless

Edible

The multi-stemmed shrub that flowers in the middle of January, with yellow catkins hanging when there is not a leaf in the wood. It gives hazelnuts in September, if squirrels and jays leave any.

Where it grows

Streams and ditches · Oak woods · Uplands

Also known as

common hazel, cobnut

In flower

In fruit

How to tell it

Yellow catkins hanging in winter, unmistakable in a bare wood. An almost round leaf with an abrupt point, doubly toothed and softly hairy. It grows as a stool, many stems from the ground, not a single trunk.

What it is confused with

Common alder

Alnus glutinosa

Harmless confusion

Same family, same riverbank, both with catkins. Alder's leaf has a bluntly cut tip and is smooth; hazel's ends in an abrupt point and is softly hairy. And alder keeps woody cones in winter, hazel keeps nuts in autumn.

Open sheet →

What it is for

The hazelnut, gathered in September when the husk turns brown. The straight rods were raw material for baskets, woven hedges and withies, which is why many old hazels have the shape of a coppice stool.

Traditionally used as food. This is not permission to eat it.

Sources

Flora-On