AA #4: Magical, Multi-Purpose . . . and Nutty!
The cache, a camo-taped 35mm film pot, is hidden along the line of small trees at the edge of the fields heading down to the river. Near the cache location and indeed numerous along this line is a common hedgerow tree . . .
The native tree hazel (Corylus avellana) bearing catkins resembling lambs tails, and late-summer nuts, is one of the most useful trees (see below) and its nuts are loved by many creatures.
It grows across most of Europe, parts of North Africa, and western Asia. In the UK it is often found in the understorey of lowland oak, ash or birch woodland, and in scrub and hedgerows.
It is often coppiced (where ecologically appropriate) but when left to grow, can reach 12m tall and live for up to 80 years (if coppiced, it can live for several hundred years). It has a smooth, grey-brown, bark, which peels with age, and bendy, hairy stems. Leaf buds are oval, blunt and hairy.
Its round-oval leaves are doubly toothed, pointed at the tip, soft to the touch due to downy hairs on the underside and turn yellow before falling in autumn. English elm (Ulmus minor var. vulgaris) and Wych elm (Ulmus glabra) have similar leaves, but they are roughly hairy and have asymmetric leaf bases.
It is easily identified in winter by: its nuts, which are each held in a short, leafy husk which encloses about three-quarters of the nut. Small, green catkins can be present in autumn.
It is monoecious, meaning that both male and female flowers are found on the same tree, although hazel flowers must be pollinated by pollen from other hazel trees. The yellow male catkins appear before the leaves and hang in clusters from mid-February. Female flowers are tiny and bud-like with red styles.
Once pollinated by wind, the female flowers develop into oval fruits which hang in groups of one to four. They mature into a nut (or filbert) with a woody shell surrounded by a cup of leafy bracts (modified leaves).
Its leaves provide food for the moth caterpillars, including the large emerald, small white wave, barred umber and nut-tree tussock. In managed woodland where hazel is coppiced, the open, wildflower-rich habitat supports species of butterfly, particularly fritillaries. Coppiced hazel also provides shelter for ground-nesting birds, such as the nightingale, nightjar, yellowhammer and willow warbler.
It has long been associated with the dormouse (also known as the hazel dormouse). Not only are hazelnuts eaten by dormice to fatten up for hibernation, but in spring the leaves are a good source of caterpillars, which dormice also eat.
The nuts are also eaten by woodpeckers, nuthatches, tits, wood pigeons, jays, small mammals - and humans. Its flowers provide early pollen for bees, but they find it difficult to collect and can only gather it in small loads. This is because the pollen of wind-pollinated hazel is not sticky and each grain actually repels another.
Its trunk is often covered in mosses, liverworts and lichens, and the fiery milkcap fungus grows in the soil beneath.
Mythology and symbolism: it has a reputation as a magical tree. A hazel rod is supposed to protect against evil spirits, as well as being used as a wand and for water-divining. In some parts of England, hazelnuts were carried as charms and/or held to ward off rheumatism. In Ireland, hazel was known as the 'Tree of Knowledge’, and in medieval times it was a symbol of fertility.
According to Celtic mythology, you can inter alia: a) Make an all-purpose wand from a straight twig of hazelwood the length of your forearm. Charge under the full moon and use it to direct energy in your work.
b) Draw a circle around your bed with a hazel stick to keep nightmares away.
c) Eat a feast of salmon and hazelnuts before an exam to heighten your powers of concentration and boost your memory!
Uses: its wood can be twisted or knotted, and as such it historically had many uses. These included thatching spars, net stakes, water-divining sticks, hurdles and furniture.
Today, hazel coppice has become an important management strategy in the conservation of woodland habitats for wildlife. The resulting timber is used in many ways and increasingly popular as pea sticks and bean poles for gardeners.
It was grown in the UK for large-scale nut production until the early 1900s. Cultivated varieties (known as cob nuts) are still grown in Kent, but most of our hazelnuts are now imported.
See short videos here (a year in the life of hazel), here (ID & uses), and here (hazel leaf bud burst - wonderful timelapse).
