Corylus avellana L., Hazel
Account Summary
Native, common, widespread and locally dominant. European temperate.
1739; Henry, Rev. W.; Knockninny Hill.
Throughout the year.
Growth form and preferred habitats
Hazel is a very widespread shrub of woods, scrub thickets and hedgerows almost throughout Fermanagh. It really is absent or scarce only in areas of extensive peat soils or very high levels of exposure. Hazel is a characteristic species on rocky limestone hills, often forming low, scrubby mixed Ash (Fraxinus excelsior)-Hazel woodland or pure Hazel scrub either on steep slopes or on ± rocky ground. It is most abundant on alkaline lime-rich soils, although it does also thrive under Oak (Quercus spp.) in more acidic conditions, provided there is some lime in the substrate or in flushing groundwater. Originally, Hazel would have occupied the more fertile soils available, but Neolithic farmers soon cleared woods from this type of ground (Rackham 2006, p. 382).
Flowering reproduction
The familiar dangling male catkins shed their pollen early in the year, usually in late February or soon after, before the leaves expand. The development of the hazelnut fruit does not seem to be as reliable nowadays as it was in the distant past, since archaeological evidence shows they were sufficiently plentiful that they could be collected and stored as winter food. The species does not sucker, although it may layer itself in suitable circumstances. Thus increase and spread of C. avellana is very dependent upon seed reproduction. The large woody nuts are predated by birds such as rooks, and by small mammals, especially the squirrel. As with other nut-producing species, it is only the occasional, overlooked, uneaten fruit that survives to germinate and reproduce the plant.
Ecology
Hazel saplings are very light demanding and they do not survive to regenerate the species under closed canopy of either scrub or woodland dimensions. Thus episodes of wind, fire or heavy browsing which create canopy openings are essential to successful sexual reproduction of both Hazel and native Oaks. Hazel, being a relatively low-growing shrubby plant is really not subject to wind-throw except on extremely steep slopes. Even if it were thrown, it very quickly resprouts from horizontal stems or the still-rooted portion of the crown.
Fermanagh occurrence
Hazel is the eighth most widespread large woody plant in Fermanagh, ranking just behind Gorse (Ulex europaeus), being represented in 409 tetrads, 77.5% of those in the VC. Fermanagh's current most extensive Hazel wood is probably that on Knockninny Hill, which was mentioned in an appendix in King's (1892) annotated version of Henry's Upper Lough Erne in 1739 (Weir 1987). Here it says of it, "... this hill, being on all sides bordered and adorned with fine stately groves of small woods, planty of heasle nutts, slows and crabs ...". There is physical evidence that the Hazel wood on Knockninny was coppiced, at least on the east side of the hill.
Uses
Despite its unashamedly bushy, multi-stemmed habit and limited stature (often only 4 m or so in height), Hazel was classed by the eighth century Irish Laws of Neighbourhood in the highest rank as a, 'Noble of the wood'. This status was given because of the general usefulness of its nuts and staves or poles (Nelson & Walsh 1993). Pliable Hazel rods were used for making rough, tough baskets for farm use, eg turf and manure creels, as the ribs of curragh boats, and for wattle fencing amongst many other uses. Their greatest significance, however, was as 'scollops' – thatching spars, which were the main product of Hazel coppice for many centuries (Hogan 2001).
It is very likely that all the local estates and the larger farmers with tenants in Fermanagh planted and maintained some area of Hazel coppice on their land to produce sufficient rods for these purposes. A local man (they were almost invariably men), would have had the basketry skills handed down from generation to generation, and would have engaged in the manufacture and trade in baskets in a small, part-time, seasonal manner. Skilled thatchers, on the other hand, were itinerant workers, travelling around the county to repair or replace worn roofs. The thatchers would purchase some, or perhaps most of their materials locally, if they were available.
Names
The genus name 'Corylus' is the Latin name for the hazel, possibly derived from the Greek 'korys' meaning a helmet, the shape of the fruit calyx resembling a helmet (Chicheley Plowden 1972). The Latin specific epithet 'avellana' refers to Avella, a town in Italian Campania where the hazel was largely grown for its nuts (Johnson & Smith 1946). The English common name 'Hazel' is derived from the Anglo-Saxon 'hæsl' or 'hæsel', and allowing for dialect, is the same word in all Germanic languages, the instrumental form of Anglo-Saxon 'hæs', a behest or to give an order. The belief behind this is that a hazel stick was commonly used to enforce orders among slaves and cattle, and therefore was the baton of the master (Prior 1879).
Threats
None.