60 FAMILIAR TREES 
The Hazel is found in North Africa, in Central 
and Northern Asia, and throughout Europe south 
of 63° N. latitude. It reaches an altitude of about 
3,800 feet in the Alps, and 1,600 feet in the north 
of Britain. 
The specific name of the Hazel (derived 
originally from Abella or Avellino, towns in the 
Neapolitan Campania, where the tree was much 
cultivated) becomes additionally interesting from 
its connection with that of the great tree-lover 
John Evelyn. He tells us himself that in some 
ancient records in his possession his ancestors’ 
names were generally written, “Avelan, alias 
Evelin.” Evelyn’s account of the soil suited to 
Hazels is that they, “above all, affect cold, barren, 
dry and sandy grounds; mountainous, and even 
rocky, soils produce them; they prosper where 
quarries of freestone lie underneath, as at Hazel- 
bury in Wiltshire, Hazelingfield in Cambridgeshire, 
Hazelmere in Surrey, and other places; but more 
plentifully if the ground be somewhat moist, 
dankish, and mossy, as in the fresher bottoms 
and sides of hills, holts, and in hedgerows.” In 
Kent, where the Hazel is abundant both in a wild 
and in a cultivated state, it thrives best on a light 
calcareous loam, resting on the ragstone or the 
chalk ; but in Scotland it often grows on a granite 
subsoil. It seems, in fact, to require at once 
abundant moisture and good drainage. 
The name Corylus is of doubtful etymology, 
being variously derived either from the Greek xépus 
(korus), a cap, from the husk of the nut; or from 
