Tag or Speckled Alder

Alnus rugusa

Foliage Type:

leaf

Arrangement:

simple, alternate

Distinguishing features: thicket-forming shrub, 5 to 15 feet high leaves - 2 to 5 inches long, oval or broadest above the middle, short-pointed at the tip, rounded to slightly heart-shaped at the base leaves - smooth above and paler or quite often whitened beneath, margin is double-toothed bark - numerous whitish horizontal lenticels flowers - blooming March or April, the smaller catkins drooping and not at branch tips fruit - seed bearing cones, persistent

Habitats:	wet sites (growing along streams and in swampy places)
Often confused with:	Beaked Hazelnut immature Paper Birch
Ecological Value:	provides dense cover and shade for many birds and mammals seeds are important for redpolls, siskins, chickadees and goldfinches beavers eat the bark and used peeled sticks in dams provides cover for trout
Did You Know?	Alder is a nitrogen-fixator: it improves the soil by adding nitrogen Dense root systems slow erosion
Uses / Ethnobotanical uses: