ALDER 171 



seem to get on very happily without it, the tree being in 

 Scotland the Eller, while in France it is the Aulne^ in 

 Denmark the Elle, in Sweden the Al, and in Italy the Aim. 

 Botanically it is the Alnus glutimsa. Alnus is its old 

 Roman name, and may be found in the writings of Pliny 

 and other ancient authors. Some more modern writers, 

 however, ignoring this most natural reason for the use of 

 the generic title, profess to find a derivation for it in the 

 Celtic a/, near, and Ian, a river, or even go to a Hebrew 

 source, aelon, a word meaning vigorous. 



The leaves of the alder are of very rounded form, and 

 have their edges serrated ; when young they are decidedly 

 sticky to the touch, hence the specific name glutinosa. 

 "The leaves of this tree," says an old writer, "are in 

 shape somewhat like the Hasell, but they are blacker, and 

 more wrinkled, very clammie to handle, as though they 

 were sprinckled with honie." They are of a very dark 

 and sombre green and retain this colour while most of the 

 other trees are bedecked in all the splendours of Autumn. 

 The stamen-bearing catkins of the alder are produced 

 about the middle of September, and then await the arrival 

 of the pistil-bearers in the following Spring. In the males 

 the catkins are built up of three-lobed scales, each protecting 

 three flowers, and each flower having four stamens. These 

 catkins are of considerable length, and, when fully matured, 

 are cylindrical, pendent, and of a dark red colour. In the 

 earlier stage, as seen in the upper part of our illustration, 

 Plate XXVI., they are somewhat tapering, and more or less 

 erect. In the pistil-bearing catkins the scales are slightly 

 three-cleft, and each sheltering two flowers. These catkins 

 are small, barely an inch in length, and ovate in form. They 



