ALDER 125 



Alder, Common or Black [Alnus glutinosa Medic. : Order Betu- 



Idcece), French " aune," Ital. " alno " or " ontano," Span. " alano " 

 or " aliso," Oerm, '' schwarz Erie " or " Else/' Euss. " else." 

 S.G. fresh 901, dxy 551. W 50 — 62 when green, 50 — 26 when dry. 

 Strength, compared to Oak, 80 ; stifcess, 63. Height 20 — 40, 

 very rarely 70 — 80 ft. ; diam. 1 — 2 ft. No heartwood. Wood white 

 when alive, red when cut, becoming pinkish-brown. Bings rather 

 broad, not very distinct, waving inwards where they cross the few, 

 lighter- coloured, medullary rays. Brown pith-flecks are frequent. 

 Pith-mass triangular with rounded angles, from which the medullary 

 rays radiate in curves. The wood contains vessels, tracheids, 

 wood-fibres, fibre-cells, and parenchyma ; but the vessels are small, 

 few, and uniformly distributed. It is soft, easily spht, rather hght, 

 with a smooth, fine grain, and lustrous. It does not warp or 

 sphnter. When kept wholly submerged it is very durable, but not 

 at all so otherwise. To preserve the finer pieces from insect attack 

 they are sometimes, in Scotland, immersed for some months in 

 peat- water, to which some hme is added, which gives the wood some 

 resemblance to Mahogany. It has then been used for tables. 

 Alder was formerly used for piles, water-pipes, sluices, etc., but 

 Elm, being far more durable when alternately wet and dry, is 

 much better for such purposes. The piles of Eavenna, according 

 to Vitruvius, and those of the Eialto at Venice, and those of 

 Amsterdam, according to Evelyn, were largely of Alder, and 

 Pliny speaks of it as " eternal " when so used. Alder is employed 

 for packing-cases, the staves of herring-barrels, shovels, clogs and 

 sabots, bobbins, barrows, kneading- troughs, etc. The roots and 

 knots, being often handsomely veined, are used in small articles 

 of turnery and cabinet-making. Alder is practically the best 

 wood for gunpowder-charcoal. It is imported from the Baltic 

 ports of North Germany, where there are extensive pure forests 

 of this species, sometimes mixed with Birch ; and it is mainly 

 bought by the Lancashire clog-makers. 



Alder, American or Hoary [Alnus incana WiUd: Order Betu- 

 IdcecB), Oerm. " Weisserle." A similar but inferior wood, with 

 more lustre, fewer pith-flecks, very few, wide, but indistinct medul- 

 lary rays, has a wide range in North America. 



Alder, Red, Alnus rubra Bong. = J.. Oregona Nuttall, a native of 

 the Pacific slope, known also as " Oregon " or "Western Alder," 

 is a large tree yielding a light brownish wood sometimes employed 

 for charcoal, canoes, or furniture. 



Alder, Red, of the Cape. See Cedar, Red, in Cape Colony. 



Alder, White, the name in the western United States for Alnus 

 rhomUfdUa Nutt. ; but applied in Cape Colony to Platylophus 



