ALDER TREE. 



ALNUS. 



BETULIDEiS. MONCECIA TETRANDRIA. 



Alder, aller, oiler, owler ; French, autie, vergne ; Italian, alno, 

 ontano. 



The common Alder, Alnus glutinosa, may, in the 

 marshy soil it loves, be reared to a height of forty feet : 

 the leaves are nearly circular, and of a dark green; 

 the nerves on the lower side have white spongy tufts at 

 the angles of their ramifications, like the leaves of the 

 lime-tree. The bark is of a blackish hue, and, in old 

 trees, full of clefts : 



" As Alders, in the spring, their boles extend. 

 And heave so fiercely that the bark they rend." 



Dryden's Virgil. Eclogue 10. 



This tree is not only a native of our island, but of 

 Europe, from Lapland to Gibraltar ; and of Asia, from 

 the White Sea to Mount Caucasus. With us, it flowers 

 in March and April. 



The wood is valuable from its property of remaining 

 sound a long time under water ; on this account it is used 

 for piles driven into the ground for the support of build- 

 ings in marshy places, and is said to have been used 

 under the Rialto at Venice : in Flanders and Holland 

 it is raised in abundance for such purposes. It also makes 

 excellent water-pipes; and serves for various domestic 

 purposes, as spinning-wheels, milk-vessels, bowls, spoons. 



