V. 2. THE COMMON ALDER. 219 



rhomboidal scales on short footstalks. Beneath each scale are 

 three smaller ones containing each a four-lobed flower-cup with 

 four stamens, from whose anthers issues a cloud of pollen. The 

 abundance of this golden colored dust gives its rich hue to the 

 pale yellow flower. 



The footstalks of the male and female aments part usually 

 from the same point; the male hang downwards; the female 

 stand erect and seem to be terminal. The fertile' aments are 

 ovate-oblong, one fourth or one third of an inch long, of a deep 

 purple, bristling, when in flower, with the prominent scarlet 

 styles. They afterwards enlarge to one third or one half an 

 inch in length, become very hard, and remain through the win- 

 ter on the tree, showing a distant relationship to the pines. 

 Some of the scales of the ament often become excessively length- 

 ened, leaf-like or rather like the stipules, bristling on the ma- 

 ture catkins, and at last turning black and hard.* 



The wood is white, rapidly becoming orange or of the color 

 of Russia leather, on exposure to light. 



In some countries, the alder has been planted for a purpose 

 which it usually subserves without the aid of art, on the bor- 

 ders of rivers and small streams. The matted roots give sta- 

 bility to the banks of soft earth, and keep the stream within its 

 bounds, while the stems, overhanging the water, beautifully 

 fringe the meadows through which it flows. 



The common alder is too small a tree to be much used for its 

 wood, except as fuel, as it seldom grows more than twelve or 

 fourteen feet high and two or three inches in diameter, though 

 rarely, in deep swamps, it is found six or eight inches thick, 

 and twenty or thirty feet high. It makes excellent fuel, burn- 

 ing readily and throwing out much heat. It is preferred to any 

 other tree, for making charcoal to be used in the manufacture 

 of gunpowder. It is also employed for the hoops of small casks, 

 such as are used to contain nails or gunpowder. There are 

 many uses to which it might be put, as its close resemblance to 

 the common alder of Europe indicates an identity of properties. 



* The alders have not been attentively studied by writers upon American bot- 

 any. Pursh's descriptions seem to me of no value. The expression " amentis 

 junioribus cylindraceis. fructiferis ovalibus " would apply equally well to all the spe- 

 cies. I doubt whether an important distinction can be found in the stipules. 



