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CLASS XXI. ORDER Iv. ] ALNUS. 1195 
1. A. glutino'sa, Gert. (Fig. 1453.) Common Alder. Leaves 
roundish, wedge-shaped, obtuse, the margin lobed and serrated, some- 
what glutinous, the axis of the ribs with tufts of hairs. 
English Flora, vol 4. p. 131.—Hooker, British Flora, ed. 4. vol. i. p. 
345.—Lindley, Synopsis, p. 229.—Betula alnus, Linn.—English 
Botany, t. 1508. 
A tree of slow growth, varying in height from twen'y to sixty feet 
and upwards, with rugged bark, round crooked branches, angular and 
glutinous when young. Leaves alternate, petiolated, of a dark 
shining green above, pale beneath, roundish, with a wedge-shaped 
base, obtuse, often notched at the end, more or less lobed and 
serrated on the margin, the mid-rib and lateral veins promiment, with 
a tuft of hairs at the angles. Stipules roundish, entire, soon falling 
away. Barren catkins long, cylindrical, pendulous, the fertile 
roundish ovate, like a small cone, persistent, mostly in threes, on 
short branches. /ruit ovate, compressed, brown, smooth, shining. 
Habitat—Wet meadows, the borders of lakes, rivers, and pools; 
frequent. 
Tree; flowering in March. 
A common well known tree, of very variable size; in some situations 
only alow shrub, but mostly a low tree, and in situations suited to its 
growth where it has been allowed to grow unmolested it atiains the 
height of about sixty feet. Varieties are occasionally found having 
the leaves edged with light green, which is the var. emarginata, of 
Willd., and sometimes the leaves are cut in a pinnatifid manner, and 
it is then the var. laciniata of the same author. 
The wood of the Alder, though soft, is applied to a variety of pur 
poses ; when first cut down it is white, but soon becomes of a brown 
colour, which it ever after retains, and is made into a variety of 
useful articles, from its being soft, light, and durable, and little 
liable to warp; it is made into sabots, soles for shoes, pattens, clogs, 
&e. ; it is sometimes used for making articles of furniture, &e. After it 
has lain in peat bogs it becomes black as ebony, but will not take the 
durable polish of that wood. It appears to form the best kind of 
wood piles for bridges, &c¢, remaining undecayed for a very consi- 
derable period under water. Though of such very short duration when 
exposed to the air, under cover it appears to be so durable, that in 
Dorsetshire, the adage applied to willow and poplar poles, in the Mid- 
land Counties is applied to the Alder— 
“Thatch me well, and keep me dry, 
Heart of Oak I will defy.” 
The wood burns but slowly, and consequently is not in much request 
for domestic fuel; but for lime or brick kilns it is excellent, and for 
burning into charcoal for making gunpowder it is the best wood 
known. The bark contains a considerable portion of tanning matter: 
CI 
