Recent from talks
Alnus glutinosa
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Alnus glutinosa
Alnus glutinosa, the common alder, black alder, European alder, European black alder, or just alder, is a species of tree in the family Betulaceae, native to most of Europe, southwest Asia and northern Africa. It thrives in wet locations where its association with the bacterium Frankia alni enables it to grow in poor quality soils. It is a medium-sized, short-lived tree growing to a height of up to 30 metres (98 feet). It has short-stalked rounded leaves and separate male and female flowers in the form of catkins. The small, rounded fruits are cone-like and the seeds are dispersed by wind and water.
The common alder provides food and shelter for wildlife, with a number of insects, lichens and fungi being completely dependent on the tree. It is a pioneer species, colonising vacant land and forming mixed forests as other trees appear in its wake. Eventually common alder dies out of woodlands because the seedlings need more light than is available on the forest floor. Its more usual habitat is forest edges, swamps and riverside corridors. The timber has been used in underwater foundations and for manufacture of paper and fibreboard, for smoking foods, for joinery, turnery and carving. Products of the tree have been used in ethnobotany, providing folk remedies for various ailments, and research has shown that extracts of the seeds are active against pathogenic bacteria.
A. glutinosa is a tree that thrives in moist soils, and grows under favourable circumstances to a height of 20 to 30 metres (66 to 98 feet) and exceptionally up to 37 m (121 ft). Young trees have an upright habit of growth with a main axial stem but older trees develop an arched crown with crooked branches. The base of the trunk produces adventitious roots which grow down to the soil and may appear to be propping the trunk up. The bark of young trees is smooth, glossy and greenish-brown while in older trees it is dark grey and fissured. The branches are smooth and somewhat sticky, being scattered with resinous warts. The buds are purplish-brown and have short stalks. Both male and female catkins form in the autumn and remain dormant during the winter.
The leaves of the common alder are short-stalked, rounded, up to 10 centimetres (4 inches) long with a slightly wedge-shaped base and a wavy, serrated margin. They have a glossy dark green upper surface and paler green underside with rusty-brown hairs in the angles of the veins. As with some other trees growing near water, the common alder keeps its leaves longer than do trees in drier situations, and the leaves remain green late into the autumn. As the Latin name glutinosa implies, the buds and young leaves are sticky with a resinous gum.
The species is monoecious and the flowers are wind-pollinated; the slender cylindrical male catkins are pendulous, reddish in colour and 5 to 10 cm (2 to 4 in) long; the female flowers are upright, broad and green, with short stalks. During the autumn they become dark brown to black in colour, hard, somewhat woody, and superficially similar to small conifer cones. They last through the winter and the small winged seeds are mostly scattered the following spring. The seeds are flattened reddish-brown nuts edged with webbing filled with pockets of air. This enables them to float for about a month which allows the seed to disperse widely.
Unlike some other species of tree, common alders do not produce shade leaves. The respiration rate of shaded foliage is the same as well-lit leaves but the rate of assimilation is lower. This means that as a tree in woodland grows taller, the lower branches die and soon decay, leaving a small crown and unbranched trunk.
A. glutinosa was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753, as one of two varieties of alder (the other being Alnus incana), which he regarded as a single species Betula alnus. In 1785, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck treated it as a full species under the name Betula glutinosa. Its present scientific name is due to Joseph Gaertner, who in 1791 accepted the separation of alders from birches, and transferred the species to Alnus. The epithet glutinosa means "sticky", referring particularly to the young shoots.
Within the genus Alnus, the common alder is placed in subgenus Alnus as part of a closely related group of species including the grey alder, A. incana, with which it hybridizes to form the hybrid A. × hybrida. Both species are diploid. In 2017, populations formerly considered to be A. glutinosa were found to be separate, polyploid species: A. lusitanica, which is native to the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco, and A. rohlenae, which is native to the western part of the Balkan Peninsula.
Hub AI
Alnus glutinosa AI simulator
(@Alnus glutinosa_simulator)
Alnus glutinosa
Alnus glutinosa, the common alder, black alder, European alder, European black alder, or just alder, is a species of tree in the family Betulaceae, native to most of Europe, southwest Asia and northern Africa. It thrives in wet locations where its association with the bacterium Frankia alni enables it to grow in poor quality soils. It is a medium-sized, short-lived tree growing to a height of up to 30 metres (98 feet). It has short-stalked rounded leaves and separate male and female flowers in the form of catkins. The small, rounded fruits are cone-like and the seeds are dispersed by wind and water.
The common alder provides food and shelter for wildlife, with a number of insects, lichens and fungi being completely dependent on the tree. It is a pioneer species, colonising vacant land and forming mixed forests as other trees appear in its wake. Eventually common alder dies out of woodlands because the seedlings need more light than is available on the forest floor. Its more usual habitat is forest edges, swamps and riverside corridors. The timber has been used in underwater foundations and for manufacture of paper and fibreboard, for smoking foods, for joinery, turnery and carving. Products of the tree have been used in ethnobotany, providing folk remedies for various ailments, and research has shown that extracts of the seeds are active against pathogenic bacteria.
A. glutinosa is a tree that thrives in moist soils, and grows under favourable circumstances to a height of 20 to 30 metres (66 to 98 feet) and exceptionally up to 37 m (121 ft). Young trees have an upright habit of growth with a main axial stem but older trees develop an arched crown with crooked branches. The base of the trunk produces adventitious roots which grow down to the soil and may appear to be propping the trunk up. The bark of young trees is smooth, glossy and greenish-brown while in older trees it is dark grey and fissured. The branches are smooth and somewhat sticky, being scattered with resinous warts. The buds are purplish-brown and have short stalks. Both male and female catkins form in the autumn and remain dormant during the winter.
The leaves of the common alder are short-stalked, rounded, up to 10 centimetres (4 inches) long with a slightly wedge-shaped base and a wavy, serrated margin. They have a glossy dark green upper surface and paler green underside with rusty-brown hairs in the angles of the veins. As with some other trees growing near water, the common alder keeps its leaves longer than do trees in drier situations, and the leaves remain green late into the autumn. As the Latin name glutinosa implies, the buds and young leaves are sticky with a resinous gum.
The species is monoecious and the flowers are wind-pollinated; the slender cylindrical male catkins are pendulous, reddish in colour and 5 to 10 cm (2 to 4 in) long; the female flowers are upright, broad and green, with short stalks. During the autumn they become dark brown to black in colour, hard, somewhat woody, and superficially similar to small conifer cones. They last through the winter and the small winged seeds are mostly scattered the following spring. The seeds are flattened reddish-brown nuts edged with webbing filled with pockets of air. This enables them to float for about a month which allows the seed to disperse widely.
Unlike some other species of tree, common alders do not produce shade leaves. The respiration rate of shaded foliage is the same as well-lit leaves but the rate of assimilation is lower. This means that as a tree in woodland grows taller, the lower branches die and soon decay, leaving a small crown and unbranched trunk.
A. glutinosa was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753, as one of two varieties of alder (the other being Alnus incana), which he regarded as a single species Betula alnus. In 1785, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck treated it as a full species under the name Betula glutinosa. Its present scientific name is due to Joseph Gaertner, who in 1791 accepted the separation of alders from birches, and transferred the species to Alnus. The epithet glutinosa means "sticky", referring particularly to the young shoots.
Within the genus Alnus, the common alder is placed in subgenus Alnus as part of a closely related group of species including the grey alder, A. incana, with which it hybridizes to form the hybrid A. × hybrida. Both species are diploid. In 2017, populations formerly considered to be A. glutinosa were found to be separate, polyploid species: A. lusitanica, which is native to the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco, and A. rohlenae, which is native to the western part of the Balkan Peninsula.
Recent media