Common hazel is found almost everywhere in Ukraine, except in the south. This plant can be found in broadleaf and mixed forests, on forest edges and glades. It is a bushy monoecious medicinal plant with dark green upper leaves and lighter colored lower leaves. The flowers of the common hazel are staminate, arranged in the form of drooping cylindrical earrings, 3 to 7 cm long. The pistillate flowers are hidden in spherical buds with reddish stipules peeking out. The fruits are nuts, the surface of which is covered with a leafy wrapper. Hazel blooms from March to May, and the nuts ripen in August and September.
Hazel leaves are harvested in the spring when they are blooming and dried in a shaded and ventilated place.
Hazel leaves contain vitamins C, B1, B2, PP, K, essential oil, bioflavonoids, and myricitroside glycoside. Hazel bark contains essential oil, astringents, tannins, dye, yellow substance, betulin, lignoceryl alcohol.
The rich composition of hazel contributes to its successful use in the treatment of prostatitis and prostate adenoma, intestinal diseases, anemia, and renal pathologies. It is useful in case of vitamin deficiency, varicose veins, rickets.
In addition, the use of hazel helps to normalize appetite, stimulates intestinal motility, thus improving its functioning. It can prevent the development of heart and vascular diseases and promotes the dissolution of kidney stones. By using hazel leaves, you can improve blood circulation and normalize metabolism, which in turn will cleanse it of toxins in the liver and strengthen the immune system.
Medicines from this plant are characterized by vasoconstrictor properties and promote rapid wound healing, so their use internally is effective for lower leg ulcers, periphlebitis, venous dilatation, or capillary hemorrhage. Hazel remedies are also popular in the treatment of liver diseases. It is also known that hazel improves appetite. Nuts help in the treatment of diabetes, atherosclerosis, and hypertension.
