The Alders 



Buds acute, dark red, J inch long, with silky pubescence. Leaves 

 3 to 4 inches long, oblong, ovate or obovate, acute at both ends, 

 shining dark green above, pale green and dull beneath, edges 

 set with fine incurving teeth; petioles short. Flowers autumnal, 

 from buds of previous spring; monoecious; staminate catkins, 

 golden, I to 2 inches long; pistillate, oblong, J inch long, with red 

 tips of stigmas protruding from scales. Fruit, a woody, oval 

 strobile, ripe a year after blooming; scales thick, shiny, each 

 bears two flat, obovate, pointed nuts or seeds. Preferred habitat, 

 borders of streams and ponds, near, but not actually on, seacoast. 

 Distribution, eastern Delaware and Maryland, Indian Territory. 

 Uses: Rarely planted, but deserving of cultivation for its 

 glossy foliage and the beauty and unusualness of its golden catkins, 

 appearing in September. 



The seaside alder divides v/ith the witch hazel the distinction 

 of bearing flowers and ripening fruit simultaneously in the fall 

 of the year. They do not compete for popular favour, because 

 the alder comes first, hanging out its golden catkins in clusters 

 on the ends of the season's shoots in August and September. 

 Nothing is left of them when the witch hazel scatters its dainty 

 stars along the twigs in October and November. The tiny 

 pistillate cones of the alder are scarcely larger than the buds that 

 keep them company. 



The seaside alder grows well in the Arnold Arboretum, at 

 Boston, flowering profusely, thus proving itself hardy in New 

 England, and comfortable in dryer soil than it naturally chooses. 

 It is quite worthy of the attention of those who seek for beauty 

 and novelty of habit among little native trees. 



The Oregon, or Red Alder {A. Oregona, Nutt.), is a large 

 tree for an alder, sometimes 80 feet in height, with a narrow 

 pyramid of drooping branches about a trunk that may exceed 3 

 feet in diameter. The smooth, pale grey bark of this tree sets it 

 apart from other alders. The flowers and strobiles are large to 

 match the tree; the ovate leaves are crenately lobed and finely 

 cut toothed. They are lined with rusty pubescence, and are 

 usually smooth and dark green above. 



This is the alder of the Western coast that climbs mountains 

 until it leaves the spruces behind, but reaches its greatest size 

 about Puget Sound. From Sitka south through Washington and 

 Oregon it lines the stream borders, and along the mountains it 



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