Hazelnut

Parts Usually Used

Inner bark and twig hairs

Description of Plant(s) and Culture

American hazelnut is a shrub that grows to 10 feet tall; the stems and leafstalks have stiff hairs. The leaves are heart-shaped, double-toothed, growing to 5 inches long. The plant flowers in April to May. The fruits are edible nuts encased in beaked, toothed bracts.

Where Found

Found in thickets from Maine to Georgia; Missouri, Oklahoma to Canada.

Medicinal Properties

Febrifuge, astringent

Biochemical Information

Magnesium, sulfur

Legends, Myths and Stories

According to the old-timers, eating too many hazelnuts can cause gas, stomach ache, and headache. They claimed if a snake was struck with a hazel wand, it became stunned, because it is pliable and will wind closer around the snake to limit its motion. Country folk claim if the hazel nuts have thick shells, the winter will be bleak; if their shells are thin, the winter will be mild.

Uses

Native Americans historically prepared a tea from hazelnut bark to address hives and fevers, and applied bark poultices to cuts and old sores. Traditional herbalists compared the plant to hawthorn, recommending it to support the heart and the arteries, while also attributing aphrodisiac properties to it. Additionally, Native Americans and historical physicians utilized the twig hairs in traditional remedies intended to expel worms.

Bibliography

Culpeper’s Complete Herbal & English Physician: Updated With 117 Modern Herbs , by Nicholas Culpeper, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, 1990, (reprint of 1814) Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants , by Steven Foster and James A. , Houghton Mifflin Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10000 The Herbalist Almanac , by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, copyright 1988, fifth printing, 1994 The Herb Book , by John Lust, Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY.

copyright 1974. , 180 Varick Street, New York, NY 10014, first printed by the United States Government Printing Office, Washington, in 1928, this Dover edition 1974 Indian Uses of Native Plants , by Edith Van Allen Murphey, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, copyright 1958, print 1990 The Magic of Herbs , by David Conway, published by Jonathan Cape, Thirty Bedford Square, London, England.

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