34 
WAYSIDE AND WOODLAND TREES. 
The Hornbeam’s title to be considered indigenous has had 
some doubts thrown upon it because there are some records of 
specimens having been introduced during the fifteenth century, 
but that is not sufficient ground upon which to deny nationality. 
We have known persons to bring home from distant parts as 
treasures wild plants and ferns that were growing within a mile of 
their own homes. It appears to be a real native of the southern 
and midland counties of England, and of Wales. A line drawn 
across the map from North Wales to Norfolk roughly marks the 
limit ; north of that line the Hornbeam appears to have been 
planted, as also in Ireland. 
The Hazel {Corylus avellana). 
It is rarely that the Hazel is allowed in this country to develop 
into a tree ; as a rule it is a shrub, forming undergrowth in wood 
or copse, or part of a hedge. As it is cut down with the copse 
or hedge, it cannot form a standard of any size. But that the 
Hazel left alone will develop into a small tree is shown by an 
e.xample in Eastwell Park, Kent, whose height a few years ago 
w'as thirty feet, with a circumference of three feet round the bole. 
As soon as the nuts are formed the bush is easily identified by 
all, so that a description of its character is hardly necessary. 
The large, roundish, heart-shaped leaves are arranged alternately 
in two rows along the straight downy shoots. Their margins 
are doubly toothed, and when in the bud they are plaited, the 
folds being parallel to the midrib. Soon after the buds open, 
many of the leaves assume a purplish tint for a while ; in autumn 
they turn brown, and finally pale to yellow. 
Before the leaves appear the Hazel is rendered conspicuous by 
the male catkins, which are familiar to country children under the 
name of Lamb’s-tails. These may be seen in an undeveloped con- 
dition in the autumn, when the nuts are being sought. A cluster 
of two or three hard, little, grey-green cylinders is all that may 
