214 THE ALDER. 



growth of other trees, throughout the whole of Europe, 

 a great part of Asia, the north of Africa, and some parts 

 of North America. Having this wide range, and growing 

 in situations where it could not fail to be conspicuous, it 

 is mentioned by the earliest poets and writers on natural 

 history. 



The Alder, in its young state, is a bushy shrub of a 

 pyramidal form, heavily clothed with large, deep green 

 leaves, which as well as the young shoots are covered with 



a glutinous substance, more especially in the early part of 

 the summer. The leaves are roundish, blunt and serrated, 1 

 shining above, and furnished at the angles of the veins 

 beneath with minute tufts of whitish down. The leaf- 

 stalks are nearly an inch in length, and furnished with 

 stipules, which entirely inclose the leaves before then- 

 expansion. The flowers are of two kinds : the barren are 

 long drooping catkins which appear in the autumn and 

 hang on the tree all the winter ; and the fertile are oval 

 1 Serrated, notched like a saw. 



