34 
SEA SIDE ALDER. 
ALNUS maritima ; foliis ovalibus glabris serratis obtusis vel 
acuminatis, basi acutis, subtus ferrugineis; amentis fcemi- 
neis maximis, squamis duplicato-lobatis. 
Alnus maritima ; foliis ovatis serratis, basi acutis. Muhl. 
Mss. Observations Botanicse de Plantis Am. Septent. p. 193. 
(in the Library of the Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad.) and Herbarium. 
A specimen of this very distinct species of Alder was 
collected on the Eastern shore of Maryland, by my 
friend Charles Pickering. It has the appearance of 
being a low shrub, with slender smooth branches. The 
leaves are 2J to 3 inches long by 1^ or more wide, of 
an elegant well defined oval outline, and supported upon 
longish petioles; the young buds and leaves, after the 
manner of the genus, are slightly glutinous; the nerv- 
ings very slender, serratures shallow, and in the larger 
leaves rather remote; the uppermost leaves on the in- 
fertile shoots are acuminated, and, at first glance, look 
almost like the leaves of a Camellia. The male catkins 
are unknown, as are the stipules, which are probably 
small. The fertile ament in size and general appear- 
ance might be taken for the strobile or cone of a Spruce; 
it is about the size of a Hop cluster, nearly black, with 
the scales very thick and deeply and obviously lobed. 
The carpel is small in proportion, and with a thick 
opaque and obscure margin, as in A. serrulata. 
Plate X. 
/ 
A branch of the natural size, a . The seed vessel. 
