AMENTIFER/E. 170 



the axils of the veins beneath. Nut lenticular, bordered, but witliout 

 a membranous wing. 



Var. a, gemcina. 

 Leaves slightly lobed or repand and irregularly dentate-serrate. 



Var. 0, incisa. 



Leaves deeply cut. 



By the sides of streams and ponds, and in damp Avoods. Common, 

 and generally distributed. Var. 3 in Wigtonsliire (Dr. Balfour) and 

 Black Mountain, near Belfast (Mr. S. A. Stewart). 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Tree. Spring. 



A small tree, or often merely a bush, but occasionally reaching a 

 height of 50 to (0 feet, with olive-grey bark, rather rough on old trunks, 

 but smooth on the spreading branches. Leaves rather shortly stalked, 

 2 to 4 inches long ; the lateral veins few, running straight from the 

 midrib to the margin. Stipules ovate, deciduous. Male catkins appear- 

 ing in autunni in racemes opposite the terminal leaf of the shoot, with 

 the peduncles and pedicels rough with glutinous elevations; catkins 

 at length pendulous, 2 to 4 inches long; catkin-scales roundish, dull 

 red, glutinous when young: anthers yellowish. Female catkins ap- 

 pearing after the male, but before the latter open, truly terminal, in 

 racemes like the male; stigmas red. Catkins in fruit becoming cone- 

 like, ^io I inch long, mth dark brown woody scales. Nut yV "^ch 

 long, pale brown. Leaves shining deep green, paler beneath, slightly 

 plicate. 



Common Alder. 



French, Aulne glutineux. German, Gemeine Erie. Eller. 

 The alder grows in the most swampy wet situations, where but few other trees will 

 thrive. It is found throughout Europe, in Asia, Africa, and also in North America. 

 According to Virgil, the alder formed the first material for boat-building, and Lucan 

 recommends it for that purpose. At the present day it is extensively used in Flanders 

 and Holland for forming piles of bridges and dykes ; for the wood, though soft, is of 

 great dui-abihty in water. ]\Iitchell observes that woodmen have nearly the same 

 adage for alder poles when peeled for rafters as those of the midland counties have for 

 willows and poplars : — 



*' Thatch me well, and keep me dry, , 

 Heart of oak I will defy." 



" Stakes of alder," he says, " will not stand twelve months, nor will the timber do for 

 posts or anything else, when it is in contact with the ground, except under water ;" and 

 he recommends it as linings for stone carts and wheelbarrows that are in constant use, 

 " because, being soft, though it may bruise, it does not split by the stones being tumbled 

 in." Wood of alder which has lain for a long time in peat bogs becomes as black as ebony, 

 and this process prevents its liability to destruction from the ravages of a small beetle 



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