VY. 2. THE COMMON ALDER. 219 
rhomboidal scales on short footstalks. Beneath each scale are 
three smaller ones containing each a four-lobed flower-cup with 
four stamens, from whose anthers issues a cloud of pollen. The 
abundance of this golden colored dust gives its rich hue to the 
pale yellow flower. 
The footstalks of the male and female aments part usually 
from the same point; the male hang downwards; the female 
Stand erect and seem to be terminal. The fertile aments are 
ovate-oblong, one fourth or one third of an inch long, of a deep 
purple, bristling, when in flower, with the prominent scarlet 
styles. They afterwards enlarge to one third or one half an 
inch in length, become very hard, and remain through the win- 
ter on the tree, showing a distant relationship to the pines. 
Some of the scales of the ament often become excessively length- 
ened, leaf-like or rather like the stipules, bristling on the ma- 
ture catkins, and at last turning black and hard.* 
The wood is white, rapidly becoming orange or of the color 
of Russia leather, on exposure to light. 
In some countries, the alder has been planted for a purpose 
which it usually subserves without the aid of art, on the bor- 
ders of rivers and small streams. The matted roots give sta- 
bility to the banks of soft earth, and keep the stream within its 
bounds, while the stems, overhanging the water, beautifully 
fringe the meadows through which it flows. 
The common alder is too small a tree to be much used for its 
wood, except as fuel, as it seldom grows more than twelve or 
fourteen feet high and two or three inches in diameter, though 
rarely, in deep swamps, it is found six or eight inches thick, 
and twenty or thirty feet high. It makes excellent fuel, burn- 
ing readily and throwing out much heat. It is preferred to any 
other tree, for making charcoal to be used in the manufacture 
of gunpowder. Itis also employed for the hoops of small casks, 
such as are used to contain nails or gunpowder. There are 
many uses to which it might be put, as its close resemblance to 
the common alder of Europe indicates an identity of properties. 
* The alders have not been attentively studied by writers upon American bot- 
any. Pursh’s descriptions seem to meof no value. The expression “ amentis 
junioribus cylindraceis, fructiferts ovalibus’’ would apply equally well to all the spe- 
cies. I doubt whether an :mportant distinction can be found in the stipules. 
