Two Hedgerow Regulars That Look Alike Before Easter

By the end of February, most of our hedges are still bare, and a walk along a lane can feel like a test of memory. Hazel and elm sit side by side in thousands of field boundaries, and stripped of foliage they can be surprisingly easy to confuse. Both hold their leaves alternately along the stem, both often grow as multi-stemmed, suckering clumps, and both can be cut and laid as part of a traditional hedge. Get to know a handful of features, though, and you can identify them with confidence in the weeks before the leaves arrive — which is exactly when the hedge is at its most interesting.

Begin With the Buds

The single fastest way to separate the two is the buds. Hazel (Corylus avellana) carries plump, oval buds about the size of a small pea, often held slightly away from the twig on short stalks. They are a soft greenish-brown, lightly hairy, and look as though they have been rolled between finger and thumb. On a sunny day the buds catch the light and give the whole twig a soft, downy appearance.

Elm buds are quite different: slender, sharply pointed and dark. They sit close against the twig, often with a faint reddish or purplish flush, and they lean slightly towards the tip of the shoot. Where a hazel bud looks ready to burst into soft green leaf, an elm bud looks like a tiny spearhead.

• Hazel: rounded, green-brown, downy, slightly stalked.
• Elm: pointed, dark brown with a red tinge, pressed to the twig.

Run a thumb along a twig as well. Hazel twigs are often slightly zigzagged and flexible, while elm twigs are straighter and more brittle. Neither has a true terminal bud, so both end in a small scar, but the pointed side buds of elm make the shoot tip look tapered.

Leaves: Shape, Symmetry and Texture

Once the leaves unfurl, from late March onwards, the differences become plainer. Hazel leaves are broadly round to heart-shaped, roughly 6–10 cm long, with a soft, doubly-toothed edge and a short, abrupt point. Hold one up to the light and the net of veins is neat and regular, and both surfaces feel softly hairy, especially in spring.

Elm leaves are longer, 7–12 cm, and oval with a taper to the tip. The giveaway is the base: one side of the leaf runs further down the stalk than the other, giving a distinctly lopsided, asymmetric look. The edge is doubly serrated, so each tooth carries smaller teeth of its own, and the upper surface feels distinctly rough, like fine sandpaper. Wych elm in particular has leaves so rough they will scratch a fingernail.

Catkins and Early Flowers

Hazel is generous with its signs. From January to March the male catkins hang like fat lambs' tails, yellow with pollen, and the tiny crimson female flowers sit on the same twigs as little tufts of thread. If you see dangling catkins on a bare hedge stem, you are almost certainly looking at hazel.

Elm flowers are far less showy. They appear in dense reddish-purple clusters on the twigs before the leaves, with no catkins at all. In a mild year, elm can be in flower in February while hazel is only just loosening its catkins, so the two often overlap — which is why buds and bark remain the most reliable points of comparison.

Bark and Hedge Habit

On older stems, bark is a useful back-up. Hazel bark is smooth and pale grey-brown, often with a coppery sheen and horizontal pale lenticels; it sometimes peels in thin strips. Elm bark is darker and much more deeply fissured, breaking into rugged vertical ridges as it ages. Wych elm frequently bears corky burrs or bosses on the trunk, which are unmistakable.

The way each plant sits in the hedge also tells a story. Hazel is a natural coppicer and often presents as a cluster of slender stems rising from an old stool, with arching branches that curve gracefully outwards. Elm spreads aggressively by suckers, sending up straight, fast-growing shoots that can quickly dominate a boundary. In many lowland hedges, the presence of dead or dying elm trunks is a reminder of Dutch elm disease, and the living elm you meet today is often regrowth from surviving roots.

A Short Field Routine

When you are next out in late winter, work through this order:

• Look at the buds first. Round, soft and greenish means hazel; pointed, dark and tight means elm.
• Check for catkins. Dangling yellow lambs' tails confirm hazel; reddish flower clusters on bare twigs point to elm.
• Look at the base of the leaves once they open. A lopsided base is elm; a rounded, heart-shaped base is hazel.
• Feel the leaves. Soft and downy is hazel; rough and sandpapery is elm.
• Step back and check the stems. Multi-stemmed, arching stools suggest hazel; upright suckering thickets and fissured bark suggest elm.

None of these clues is foolproof on its own — a young elm sucker can look surprisingly soft, and shade affects bud colour — but taken together they will keep you right. The pleasure of a winter hedge is that it rewards a slower walk: pause, turn a twig in your fingers, and the bare stems begin to read like a familiar hand.