Corylus avellana

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Corylus avellana
Leaves and nuts

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Fagales
Family: Betulaceae
Genus: Corylus
Species:
C. avellana
Binomial name
Corylus avellana
Distribution map

Corylus avellana, the common hazel, is a species of flowering plant in the

wattle-and-daub
building, and agricultural fencing.

Common hazel is mainly cultivated for its nuts. The name ‘

Corylus, but (in commercial settings) a hazelnut is usually that of C. avellana. This hazelnut or cob nut, the kernel of the seed, is edible and used raw or roasted, or ground into a paste. The cob is round, compared with the longer filbert
nut.

Description

Common hazel is typically a

involucre ("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 and 12–20 mm (1⁄2–3⁄4 in) broad (larger, up to 25 mm long, in some cultivated selections), yellow-brown with a pale scar at the base. The nut falls out of the involucre when ripe, about 7–8 months after pollination.[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]

  • Male catkins
    Male catkins
  • Female flower
    Female flower
  • C. avellana 'Heterophylla'
    C. avellana 'Heterophylla'

Taxonomy

The scientific name avellana derives from the town of Avella in Italy,[5] and was selected by Linnaeus from Leonhart Fuchs's De 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 from Pliny the Elder's first century A.D. encyclopedia Naturalis Historia.[7]

Distribution

Corylus avellana occurs from Ireland and the British Isles south to Iberia, Italy, Greece, Turkey and Cyprus, north to central Scandinavia, and east to the central Ural Mountains, the Caucasus, and northwestern Iran.[2][8][3]

Ecology

See also: List of Lepidoptera that feed on hazels

The leaves provide food for many animals, including Lepidoptera such as the case-bearer moth Coleophora anatipennella. Caterpillars of the concealer moth Alabonia geoffrella have been found feeding inside dead common hazel twigs.

The fruit are possibly even more important animal food, both for

corvids
). Both are considered pests by hazelnut growers.

The roots of C. avellana are also commonly used as the host for

ectomycorrhizal fungus such as Laccaria laccata (Deceiver), Russula ochroleuca (Ochre Brittlegill) and Paxillus involutus (Brown Rollrim), which are the most commonly recorded mycorrhizal fungi in Great Britain.[9] In the Mediterranean, the Black Truffle (Tuber melanosporum) is found on the roots.[10]

Biochemistry

In 2003, the US Food and Drug Administration (

flavonoids.(Shahidi et al. 2007;[16] Del Rio et al. 2011) Various other bioactive phenols have also been characterized in hazelnut leaves and foliar buds (Oliveira et al. 2007).[17]

Cultivation

Corylus avellana 'Contorta'

There are many cultivars of the hazel, up to 400 cultivars (in 2011) of C. avellana have been named.[18] 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,[19] Tonda Romana, Wanliss Pride, and Willamette.[20] It also includes Polish hazelnuts cultivars; Kataloński and Webba Cenny.[21]

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.[20] Some cultivars are of hybrid origin between common hazel and filbert.[4]

The following ornamental cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:-

Uses

According to the New Sunset Western Garden Book, the European hazelnut is among the most widely grown hazelnut plants for commercial nut production.[24]

This shrub is common in many European woodlands. It is an important component of the

wattle-and-daub building and agricultural fencing.[2]

Hazelnuts

Hazelnuts
Main article: Hazelnut

Hazelnuts are rich in protein and unsaturated fat. They also contain significant amounts of manganese, copper, vitamin E, thiamine, and magnesium.[25]

Common hazel is cultivated for its nuts in commercial orchards in Europe, Turkey, Iran and Caucasus. The name "hazelnut" applies to the nuts of any of the several species of the genus Corylus. This hazelnut or cobnut, the kernel of the seed, is edible and used raw or roasted, or ground into a paste. The seed has a thin, dark brown skin which has a bitter flavour and is sometimes removed before cooking. The top producer of hazelnuts, by a large margin, is Turkey, specifically the Giresun Province. Turkish hazelnut production of 625,000 tonnes accounts for approximately 75% of worldwide production.[26]

References

  1. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2014-3.RLTS.T63521A3125935.en
    . Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  2. ^
    ISBN 0-00-220013-9
    .
  3. ^ a b Trees for Life Hazel species profile Archived 2013-03-29 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ a b Flora of NW Europe: Corylus avellana Archived 2008-05-02 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ISBN 0-00-219037-0
  6. ^ Linnaeus, C. (1753). Species Plantarum p. 998.
  7. ^ "LacusCurtius • Pliny the Elder's Natural History — Book 23". penelope.uchicago.edu.
  8. ^ Den Virtuella Floran: map
  9. doi:10.1111/j.1469-8137.1987.tb00674.x
    .
  10. ^ 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.
  11. ^ 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.
  12. PMID 12668999
    .
  13. ^ Surh, Y.-J. (2003). "Cancer chemoprevention with dietary phytochemicals". Nature Reviews Cancer. 3: 768-780.
  14. PMID 8105262
    .
  15. ^ Ness, A.R.; Powles, J.W.; Khaw, K.T. (1997). "Vitamin C and cardiovascular disease – a systematic review". J. Cardiovasc Risk. 3: 513–521.
  16. doi:10.1021/jf062472o
    .
  17. hdl:10198/753
    .
  18. ^ Molnar, T.J. (2011). "Corylus.". In Kole, C. (ed.). Wild crop relatives: Genomic and breeding resources, forest trees. Springer-Verlag. pp. 15–48.
  19. doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2023.135576
    . Retrieved 12 October 2023.
  20. ^
    ISBN 0-333-47494-5
    .
  21. hdl:11585/552099
    .
  22. ^ "Corylus avellana 'Contorta'". RHS. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  23. ^ "Corylus avellana 'Red Majestic'". RHS. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  24. ^ "Hazelnut Plants". Archived from the original on 2016-03-31. Retrieved 2017-01-27.
  25. ^ SELF Nutrition data, Nuts, hazelnuts or filberts. Accessed 2014-08-22.
  26. ^ World Hazelnut Situation and Outlook, USDA 2004.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Corylus_avellana&oldid=1204631039"