Description: A low and clump-forming shrub, sometimes a small tree.

Height: 6 m

Diameter: 10 cm

Leaves: In three rows, 5-10 cm long; 4-7.5 cm wide. Elliptical or ovate, broadest near or below middle, doubly and irregularly saw-toothed and wavy-lobed, with 9-12 nearly straight, parallel veins on each side; short, hairy stalks. Dull dark green with network of sunken veins above, whitish green and often with soft hairs and with prominent veins and veinlets arranged in rows like a ladder beneath.

Shoots: Grey-brown, slender, slightly hairy when young; with three-angled pith.

Bark: Grey, smooth.

Flowers: Tiny, in early spring before leaves. Male yellowish, in drooping catkins 4-7.5 cm long. Female reddish, in cones 6 mm long.

Cones: 12-15 mm long; elliptical, blackish, hard, short-stalked; maturing in autumn; with tiny, rounded, flat nutlets.

Habitat: Wet soils along streams and lakes and in swamps.

Range: Widespread across Canada from Yukon and British Columbia to Newfoundland, south to West Virginia, west to NE Iowa, and north to NE Dakota; almot to northern limit of trees; in south to 800m.

The latin epithet, meaning ”rugose• or ”wrinkled•, refers to the network of sunken veins prominent on the lower leaf surfaces. Alder thickets provide cover for wildlife, browse for deer and moose, and seeds for birds. It is closely allied with the Old World Alnus incana.

Information: Audubon (1980), Bean I (1976)

Source: Eventually Stone Lane Gardens, but out of stock 1993, and neither nursery nor gardens were open until a week after our visit to the area in 1998, so we're still waiting :-(

Purchased:

Planted:

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