190 THE STORY OF PLANT LIFE 
ment. The height is not often 70 ft., and may 
usually be between 20 and 4o ft. with a trunk 2 ft. 
in diameter. 
The bark is cracked, black; the wood is white 
before it is felled, then red, and later pale pink. 
The leaves are rounded, obtuse, on short stalks, 
glutinous, truncate above, and wedge-shaped below, 
and hairy in the young stage, sinuate, serrulate. 
The axils of the veins below are downy. There are 
ovate stipules. 
The male catkins have peltate scales, long and 
pendant, bracts red, orbicular; the female are short, 
oblong, obtuse, terminal, in a raceme, and the 
reddish-brown bracts are woody. ‘The latter persist 
for a long time. The flowers appear before the 
leaves. 
The fruit is pale, compressed, one-celled, one- 
seeded, and has a scarcely perceptible wing. 
The flowers are pollinated by the aid of the wind. 
The fruit is dispersed also by aid of the wind. 
The Alder is a very early flowering tree, and one 
may find it in bloom in March and April. 
The wood is used for a variety of purposes, being 
durable though soft. 
In Shropshire it is largely used for making clogs 
for the Lancashire mill-hands. 
BEEcH (Fagus sylvatica). 
The Beech is a true native, though Cesar does 
not mention it. As it is confined, when native, to 
