Corylus avellana, thecommon hazel, is a species of flowering plant in thebirch familyBetulaceae. The shrubs usually grow 3–8 metres (10–26 feet) tall. The nut is round, in contrast to the longerfilbert nut. Common hazel is native toEurope andWestern Asia.
The species is mainly cultivated for its nuts. The name 'hazelnut' applies to the nuts of any species in the genusCorylus, but in commercial contexts usually describesC. avellana. This hazelnut orcob nut, thekernel of the seed, is edible and used raw, roasted, or ground into a paste. Historically, the shrub was an important component of thehedgerows used as field boundaries in lowlandEngland. The wood was grown ascoppice, with the poles used forwattle-and-daub building and agricultural fencing.
Common hazel is typically ashrub reaching 3–8 metres (10–26 feet) tall, but can reach 15 m (49 ft). Theleaves aredeciduous, rounded, 6–12 centimetres (2+1⁄2–4+1⁄2 inches) long and across, softly hairy on both surfaces, and with a double-serrate margin. Theflowers are produced very early in spring, before the leaves, and aremonoecious with single-sexwind-pollinatedcatkins. Male catkins are pale yellow and 5–12 cm long, while female flowers are very small and largely concealed in thebuds with only the bright red1–3 millimetres (1⁄16–1⁄8 in) longstyles visible. Thefruit is anut, produced in clusters of one to five together, each nut held in a short leafyinvolucre ("husk") which encloses about three-quarters of the nut. The nut is roughly spherical to oval,15–20 mm (5⁄8–3⁄4 in) long and12–20 mm (1⁄2–3⁄4 in) broad (larger, up to 25 mm long, in some cultivated selections), yellow-brown with a palescar at the base. The nut falls out of the involucre when ripe, about 7–8 months afterpollination.[2][3][4]
It is readily distinguished from the closely related filbert (Corylus maxima) by the short involucre; in the filbert the nut is fully enclosed by a beak-like involucre longer than the nut.[2]
The scientific nameavellana derives from the town ofAvella inItaly,[5] and was selected by Linnaeus fromLeonhart Fuchs'sDe historia stirpium commentarii insignes (1542), where the species was described as "Avellana nux sylvestris" ("wild nut of Avella").[6] That name was taken in turn fromPliny the Elder's first century A.D. encyclopediaNaturalis Historia.[7]
The leaves provide food for many animals, includingLepidoptera such as the case-bearer mothColeophora anatipennella. Caterpillars of the concealer mothAlabonia geoffrella have been found feeding inside dead common hazel twigs.
The fruit are possibly even more important animal food, both forinvertebrates adapted to circumvent the shell (usually byovipositing in the female flowers, which also gives protection to the offspring) and forvertebrates which manage to crack them open (such assquirrels andcorvids). Both are considered pests by hazelnut growers.
There are manycultivars of the hazel, up to 400 cultivars (in 2011) ofC. avellana have been named.[11] The list of cultivars includes Barcelona, Butler, Casina, Clark Cosford, Daviana, Delle Langhe, England, Ennis, Fillbert, Halls Giant, Jemtegaard, Kent Cob, Lewis, Tokolyi, Tonda Gentile, Tonda di Giffoni,[12] Tonda Romana, Wanliss Pride, and Willamette.[13] It also includes Polish hazelnuts cultivars: Kataloński and Webba Cenny.[14]
Some of these are grown for specific qualities of the nut including large nut size, and early and late fruiting cultivars, whereas other are grown as pollinators. The majority of commercial hazelnuts are propagated from root sprouts.[13] Some cultivars are ofhybrid origin between common hazel and filbert.[4]
This variety has stems that grow in curves and spirals unlike other hazel varieties and puckered leaves. Its long elegant catkins are normal. It was discovered in a hedge in 1863 in Gloucestershire on theFrocester Court Estate and was popularised by owners of local estates such asHenry Reynolds-Moreton, 3rd Earl of Ducie and the horticulturalistEdward Augustus Bowles. It is now popular in UK gardens.[16]
According to theNew Sunset Western Garden Book, the European hazelnut is among the most widely grown hazelnut plants for commercial nut production.[18]
This shrub is common in many European woodlands. It is an important component of thehedgerows that were the traditional field boundaries in lowlandEngland. Thewood was traditionally grown ascoppice, the poles cut and used forwattle-and-daub building and agriculturalfencing.[2]
Common hazel is cultivated for its nuts incommercialorchards inEurope,Turkey,Iran andCaucasus. The name "hazelnut" applies to the nuts of any of the several species of the genusCorylus. This hazelnut or cobnut, thekernel of theseed, is edible and used raw or roasted, or ground into a paste. The seed has a thin, dark brown skin which has abitter flavour and is sometimes removed before cooking. The top producer of hazelnuts, by a large margin, is Turkey, specifically theGiresun Province. Turkish hazelnut production of 625,000tonnes accounts for approximately 75% of worldwide production.[20]
^Santelices, R.; Palfner, G. (2010). "Controlled rhizogenesis and mycorrhization of hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.) cuttings with Black truffle (tuber melanosporum Vitt.)".Chilean Journal of Agricultural Research.70 (2):204–212.doi:10.4067/S0718-58392010000200003.hdl:1807/45808.
^Molnar, T.J. (2011). "Corylus.". In Kole, C. (ed.).Wild crop relatives: Genomic and breeding resources, forest trees. Springer-Verlag. pp. 15–48.
^Zhao, Jiarui; Wang, Xinhe; Lin, He; Lin, Zhe (1 July 2023). "Hazelnut and its by-products: A comprehensive review of nutrition, phytochemical profile, extraction, bioactivities and applications".Food Chemistry.413 135576.doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2023.135576.PMID36745946.
^abHuxley, A., ed. (1992).New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. Macmillan.ISBN0-333-47494-5.
^Ciemniewska-Żytkiewicz, Hanna; Verardo, Vito; Pasini, Federica; Bryś, Joanna; Koczoń, Piotr; Caboni, Maria Fiorenza (1 February 2015). "Determination of lipid and phenolic fraction in two hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.) cultivars grown in Poland".Food Chemistry.168:615–622.doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2014.07.107.hdl:11585/552099.PMID25172755.
^US Food and Drug Administration. (14 July 2003).Qualified Health Claims, Letter of Enforcement Discretion – Nuts and Coronary Heart Disease. Rockville, MD, USA: US Food & Drug Administration. pp. 1–4.
^Hertog, M.G.; Feskens, E. J.; Hollman, P.C.; Katan, M.B.; Kromhout, D. (23 October 1993). "Dietary antioxidant flavonoids and risk of coronary heart disease: the Zutphen Elderly Study".Lancet.342 (8878):1007–11.doi:10.1016/0140-6736(93)92876-u.PMID8105262.
^Ness, A.R.; Powles, J.W.; Khaw, K.T. (1997). "Vitamin C and cardiovascular disease – a systematic review".J. Cardiovasc Risk.3 (6):513–521.doi:10.1097/00043798-199612000-00006.PMID9100087.
^Shahidi, Fereidoon; Alasalvar, Cesarettin; Liyana-Pathirana, Chandrika M. (March 2007). "Antioxidant Phytochemicals in Hazelnut Kernel (Corylus avellana L.) and Hazelnut Byproducts".Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.55 (4):1212–20.Bibcode:2007JAFC...55.1212S.doi:10.1021/jf062472o.PMID17249682.
^Oliveira, I.; Sousa, A.; Valentão, P.; Andrade, P. B.; Ferreira, I. C. F. R.; Ferreres, F.; Bento, A.; Seabra, R.; Estevinho, L.; Pereira, J. A. (2007). "Hazel (Corylus avellana L.) leaves as source of antimicrobial and antioxidative compounds".Food Chemistry.105 (3):1018–1025.doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2007.04.059.hdl:10198/753.
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