Alnus 955 



succeeded in this country, where, however, it is little known, the only trees in 

 cultivation ^ that we know of being three thriving specimens which are growing near 

 the lake in Kew Gardens. The largest of these is now 40 feet by 2 feet 3 inches 

 in girth. They were raised from seed sent by Mr. R. E, Ellis of the Indian Forest 

 Department in 1882. (A, H.) 



ALNUS MARITIMA 



Alnus maritima, Nuttall, Sylva, i. 34 (1842); Sargent, Garden and Forest, iv. 268, t. 47 (1891), 

 Silva N. Amer. ix. 81, t. 458 (1896), and Trees N. Amer. 215 (1905); Winkler, Betulacece, 

 114 (1904). 



Alnus oblongata, Kegel, Mim. Sac. Nat. Mosc. xiii. 171 (1861) (in part). 



Betula-Alnus maritima, Marshall, Arb. Am. 20 (1785). 



A tree attaining in America 30 feet in height and i foot in girth. Bark 

 smooth, greyish-brown. Young branchlets slightly pubescent, three-angled at the tip. 

 Leaves (Plate 268, Fig. 1 1) in cultivated specimens 2^ inches long, if inch wide, some- 

 what larger in wild specimens, ovate or obovate, cuneate at the base ; acute, slightly 

 acuminate, or rounded at the apex ; nerves, eight to twelve pairs, running to the 

 margin ; margin not lobulate, remotely serrate in the upper two-thirds with minute 

 incurved glandular teeth ; upper surface dark green, shining, glabrous ; lower surface 

 light green, glabrous ; petioles \ inch, slightly pubescent. Buds minute, stalked, 

 ovoid, glabrous, slightly glandular. 



Flowers appearing in July on the branches of the year, and opening in 

 September. Staminate catkins in scurfy pubescent racemes in the axils of the 

 upper leaves. Pistillate catkins usually solitary from the axils of the lower leaves. 

 Cones ripening in the following September, so that both flowers and ripe fruit occur 

 simultaneously on the tree, ovoid, f inch long ; nutlet obovate, narrowed and 

 apiculate at the apex, with a thin membranous border. 



This alder grows on the banks of streams and ponds in Delaware and Maryland, 

 usually near, but not immediately upon the sea-coast, as its name would seem to 

 imply. However, it abounds on the banks of the Nanticoke and Wicomico rivers in 

 Maryland, near the high-water mark. What appears to be the same species was 

 collected by Hall on the Red River in Indian Territory. 



It was introduced into cultivation by Thomas Meehan, who sent it in 1878 to 

 the Arnold Arboretum, where it is tolerably hardy, flowering and fruiting freely, 

 though it was killed to the ground in 1885. There are now two trees, about 6 feet 

 high, growing in the nursery at Kew, which were sent by Prof. Sargent in 1899. 

 These flower in September, and produce fruit in quantity. (A. H.) 



1 Mr. A. B. Jackson has lately seen a tree at Grays wood, Haslemere, which is 1 8 feet high and 9 inches in girth. 



