Side by side
Hazel or alder? How to tell them apart
Corylus avellana · Alnus glutinosa
You can tell a hazel by its round, softly hairy leaf with a short pointed tip and its hazelnuts; an alder has a hairless leaf with a rounded or notched tip and small woody cones.
Both have round, double-toothed leaves and flower in winter with hanging catkins. Feel the leaf: softly hairy with a pointed tip on the hazel, hairless and sticky with a notched tip on the alder. The hazel is a multi-stemmed shrub, the alder a tree.
| Hazel | Alder | |
|---|---|---|
| Leaves | Alternate, almost round with a short pointed tip, 6–12 cm, double-toothed, softly hairy; heart-shaped base. | Alternate, round to obovate, 4–10 cm, double-toothed, tip rounded or notched. Young leaves sticky. |
| Flowering | Yellow, hanging male catkins as early as January–February; tiny red stigmas of the female flowers (January–March). | Long, hanging male catkins as early as February (February–March). |
| Fruit | Hazelnuts in a leafy, ragged husk (September). | Small woody cones 1–2 cm long. |
| Bark | Glossy grey-brown with pale lenticels. | Dark grey to blackish-brown, cracked into small plates. Buds purple and stalked. |
| Shape and height | Shrub, 3–8 m, multi-stemmed shrub | Broadleaf tree, 15–25 m |
| Site | Sun to shade, any garden soil, normal | Sun or partial shade, any garden soil, moist to wet |
| Native to Belgium | Yes | Yes |
| Good for bees, butterflies and birds | Yes, for bees, butterflies and birds | Yes, for butterflies and birds |
| Poisonous to people and pets | Not known to be poisonous | Not known to be poisonous |
| Pruning months | November–March | November–March |
The best feature in each season
- Spring
- Early in the year both flower before the leaves with hanging catkins: the hazel from January with yellow catkins and tiny red stigmas, the alder in February–March with longer, purplish-brown catkins.
- Summer
- Look at the fruits: hazelnuts in a leafy, ragged husk on the hazel, green cones on the alder.
- Autumn
- In September the hazelnuts ripen, eagerly eaten by squirrels, mice and jays. Hazel leaves turn yellow, alder leaves fall while still green.
- Winter
- The alder keeps its small woody cones all winter, and its buds are purple and stalked. The hazel has glossy greyish-brown twigs and, from autumn, small catkins waiting for spring.
Where do they grow?
Both are native. The hazel grows in woods, copses and hedges on almost any soil, in sun or shade. The alder is the tree of wet ground: stream banks, alder carr, wet meadows and ditch sides.
Which one for your garden?
- Hazel fits almost any garden, as a shrub, as coppice or in a mixed hedge: early flowers for bees, nuts for you and for wildlife. The alder suits a wet garden, a stream or a pond, free-growing or as a pollard.
- Both release pollen in winter: hay fever sufferers notice it early in the year. Do not plant an alder in a small, dry garden: it reaches 15–25 m.
Did you know? Hazel coppice used to be cut every few years: the long, supple rods were used for wattle, bean poles and fencing.
Read on
- Plant profile: Hazel
- Plant profile: Alder
- Hazel: when and how to prune
- Alder: when and how to prune
- Identification key: the question that separates them
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- Hazel or winter hazel
- Hazel or witch hazel