Plant Life: Alder

Alder is the common name for trees of genus Alnus, belonging to birch family.  They are medium sized deciduous trees that thrive in wet ground, especially along rivers, streams, marshes and lakes. The peculiarity of the deciduous tree is that they shed leaves in autumn to survive cold or dry season. 

The following are some distinctive features of the tree:
• Rounded or oval leaves with serrated (jagged saw like) edges, usually green.  
• Long hanging male catkins (round cylindrical flower cluster).appear in early spring, while small female flowers develope into woody cone-like structures.
• When young, smooth and gray bark getting darker and fissired with age.
• Pale wood when cut and exposed to air quickly turns into orange red.

Their roots contain bacteria that fix nitrogen from the atmosphere, enriching poor soils.

Alder trees often evoke the atmosphere of river banks, marshes, damp country side with solitude.  Dickens and Hardy give picturesque description of them in their novels.

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