There are over 7,000 trees in Alexandra Park and Stephen Middleton from the Friends of Alexandra Park is introducing us to some of his favourites…
Have you seen the lamb’s tails yet? This is the one name for the catkins that contain the male flowers of our January Tree of the Month, the Common Hazel (Corylus avellana). The tree can be found at the bottom of the western side of the grassy slope under Alexandra Palace just below the “middle path” and about 20 metres to the east of the steep tarmac path. Although the hazel can grow as a tree, it is much more commonly found as a shrub. It produces many small trunks rather than a single substantial trunk.
Our tree of the month produces its flowers before the leaves typically in January or February, although this year some flowers were already visible in December.
The catkins are much more obvious than their female counterparts. The separate female flowers are very small, but are usually bright red and you feel a sense of achievement when you can spot them. Each pair of red tassels is one female flower.
The hazel is wind pollinated and the clue is the small flowers which don’t need to attract pollinators. The nuts are produced later in the year and are often gorged on by grey squirrels in our park. They are edible, but you will be lucky to find any.
The leaves come out after the catkins and are very hairy, round to heart shaped and serrated. You can see some of last year’s leaves still clinging to the tree.
This tree has a large home range and is native from Britain through Europe as far as Armenia. The scientific name Corylus is Greek for a helmet and is a reference to the shape of involucre – the green material covering the developing nuts. Avellana is from Avella in southern Italy where hazels are grown in profusion.
When trimmed down to ground regularly (coppiced), the hazel produces lots of vertical shoots that can be used for fencing. Coppiced hazels live much longer and can reach extreme old age as they are rejuvenated on each cut. Hazels have been so well used in the past that there is even a special name for copse of hazels, a coryletum.
Our tree of the month is still used in hedge making and for walking sticks and in the past has even been used to make water diviners as well as the wood in a wattle and daub wall construction. Shavings of hazel have been used for clarifying wine.
In druidic folklore nine trees surrounded a sacred pond and the nuts embedded with the wisdom of the tree fell into it. Salmon fed upon these nuts and gained wisdom, but so did the people who ate the salmon.
There are more hazels in the park – by the reservoir and near the giant redwoods. Keep an eye out for the catkins. On the lower road you may come across a close relative, the Turkish hazel, a “proper” tree and our September 2021 Tree of the Month.
