The genus of trees and shrubs that includes all true hazels, producing edible nuts and valued for their wood.
From Latin corylus, itself derived from Greek korys, possibly related to ancient words for 'helmet' or 'head,' as the nut sits in a cup-like structure. The name has been used for hazel trees since ancient times.
Hazel trees (Corylus) have been sacred in European folklore for thousands of years—they were used for water-divining rods and appear in Celtic mythology. The Romans cultivated them for nuts, but the real magic is that a single hazel tree can live for 80+ years and keep regenerating from its stump. That's why medieval coppice forests were full of them.
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