DENDROLOGY. 115 



The diminutive size of this tree entirely excludes its wood 

 from use in the arts. The bark is employed by hatters, for 

 dying black. It has also been used in intermittent levers, dropsies 

 and cutaneous diseases. Its bitterness and astringency, however, 

 are of an inferior order, and it does not seem entitled to a very 

 high rank on the list of tonics. 



Common Alder. Alnus serrulata. 



This species of alder, is found in the Northern, Middle and 

 Western States, and is every where designated by the name of 

 Common Alder. It frequently gr.ows along the sides of brooks, 

 and abounds still more in places covered with stagnant water. 



The ordinary height of the common alder is 8 or 10 feet, and 

 about two inches in diameter, though often less. Its leaves are 

 of a beautiful green, about two inches long, and are in shape 

 similar to those of the black alder. This shrub blooms in Janu- 

 ary : the sexes are separate on the same stock. The barren 

 flowers are disposed, like those of the birch, around a common 

 axis, in flexible pendulous aments about two inches long. The 

 fertile flowers are in the form of small, oval bodies, garnished 

 with a dull, red fringe : they are converted into small, scaly cones, 

 which open, when arrived at maturity, to release the minute, flat 

 seeds. 



The wood of the common alder, when first laid open, is white, 

 and it becomes reddish by contact with the air. It is too small 

 to be applicable to any use in the arts. With sulphate of iron 

 the bark forms a black die for coloring wool, and as it can be 

 procured at a very low price, it is extensively substituted for gall 

 nuts by hatters and dyers. 



