WHITE ALDER 



Alnus rhombifolia NUTT. 



Almost all the lower mountain 

 streams are fringed with alders. They 

 huddle so closely along the water bor- 

 ders that when storm freshets come 

 they find themselves almost knee-deep 

 in water and if the flood waters are too 

 high and swift many of the less deeply 

 rooted lose their footholds and are then 

 carried by the torrents ruthlessly down 

 stream. Wind storms, too, play havoc 

 with their tall, slender trunks, and too 

 often they fall like tall grass before the 

 uproarious blasts, leaving the stream 

 beds cluttered and choked with pros- 

 trate forms. 



The alders are of great value as a 

 stream cover since they appreciably re- 

 duce the amount of evaporation. Being 

 found only on living streams that are 

 permanent, they are reliable signs to the 

 traveller of the presence of water. The 

 Indians used a decoction of the astrin- 



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