Hazel

A name for various types of small trees or large shrubs, recognisable by their small rounded leaves with serrated edges, and the pale dangling flowers (called 'catkins') that they produce during spring. In late summer, these trees produce small, round nuts known as hazelnuts. Hazels tend to grow in tangled thickets, sometimes referred to by Tolkien using the old word 'brakes'. They were very widespread in Middle-earth, being found in Beleriand during the First Age, and throughout the northern lands (we know for sure that hazel was found in the Shire and also far to the east on the road to Rivendell). A variety of the same plant was also found as far south as Ithlien, where it was described by its older name of 'filbert'.