The Hazel family is Corylaceae, or the Birch family is Betulaceae
What does it look like? A bush 3-5 m tall with rounded gray shoots. The leaves are large, alternate, rounded or inverted-ovate, with a short sharpening at the end, doubly toothed at the edges, somewhat fluffy, dark green above, lighter below. The fruit is a hazelnut with a leaf-like wrapper. Blooms before the leaves bloom. Stamens in drooping earrings, pistils inconspicuous, two-flowered, red. Blooms in March – April.
Where does it grow? Throughout the territory of Ukraine, except for the Far South, among bushes and deciduous forests.
What and when are collected? Bark and leaves harvested in May are used for medicinal purposes.
When is it used? Hazelnut leaves contain volatile oil, palmitic acid, myricitrosyl glycoside, paraffin, sucrose. Decoction of leaves is used for liver diseases. The bark contains volatile oil, tannins, phlobafen, lignocerul alcohol, betulin glycoside. The volatile oil of the bark has a vasodilating property. Nuts contain 60% fatty oil, bitterness, and sugar. In view of the above, the bark is used for varicose veins, periphlebitis, trophic ulcers, capillary hemorrhages; leaves – with prostate hypertrophy.
It is used as a tea, 1 tablespoon of bark or leaves is infused in 1 glass of boiling water and drunk during the day.
Nuts are used instead of almonds in the confectionery industry; contain proteins, potassium (618 mg%), calcium (287 mg%), magnesium (140 mg%), phosphorus (178 mg%), iron (36 mg%).
And also pay attention to the article Leschyna obyknovennaya