What alder looks like: general characteristics, types, photos. Alder - properties, features of cultivation and use in landscape design (125 photos and videos) Elm and alder leaves

A true harbinger of the coming spring. There is still snow everywhere, but it is already blooming. And only after flowering the alder’s young leaves begin to bloom.

Description of alder

Alder is a flowering plant of the birch family. Alder blooms with monoecious flowers - fluffy earrings. Most species begin to flower in early spring pollinated by the wind. But there are some interspecies differences. For example, sea alder blooms in late fall.

The trunk of this tree is mostly slender and covered with smooth bark. Alder leaves have a round shape and do not change color throughout the entire deciduous season. Even with the onset of a colorful autumn palette, they remain green, falling off with the first frosts. Fallen leaves contain nitrogen in large quantities, therefore, when falling, it enriches the earth with a useful mineral. towards the end of autumn, during this period their active flight begins and continues until spring.

Depending on the conditions of its habitat, alder is capable of taking on various life forms. There are more than fifty species of trees and shrubs. The most widely distributed of these are the two most common species: black alder (sticky) and gray alder (white).

Types of alder

The alder tree in the photo is black (sticky) alder. It got its name because of its shiny sticky leaves and the black color of the bark of an adult tree. In Greek mythology, black alder is associated with the arrival of spring and the festival of fire.

Trees of this species grow quickly and reach a height of more than 20 meters. Black alder – . Near it it is almost impossible to find trees of other species.

Flowering of black alder begins in April. The fruits are cones with a narrow wing and ripen in late spring of next year.

Sticky alder is a light- and moisture-loving tree. It grows in very moist places, sometimes creating alder swamps.

The black alder in the photo is included in the Red Books of Moldova, some regions of Russia, and Kazakhstan. This type of alder is planted along ponds and landscaping parks and alleys.

Gray alder looks different from its black “relative”. The trunk of this tree is not straight, but slightly curved, with bark gray. The leaves are also gray. It blooms with brownish earrings. But it is also less demanding on growing conditions, but more light-loving.

It is able to live even in the poorest soils and wetlands. More frost and wind resistant. Propagates quickly by seeds, cuttings, and root suckers. It grows very actively, especially at a young age, forming wild thickets. This property is used for forest reclamation purposes to secure the coastal part and slopes of ravines.

Use of alder

• Alder does not have great strength, but has a uniform structure, light and soft wood, which makes it easier to work with. Based on such characteristics, alder has found its application in various industries. Due to its beneficial properties, it is used for medical purposes.
• When drying alder wood, cracks do not form on the surface. Due to this quality, it is used in the production of musical instruments.
• Due to its pliability, viscosity and softness, it is used as a material for artistic carving: sculptures are carved, decorative panels and carved dishes are made. Artists use alder wood coals in their work.
• Due to its beautiful shade after treatment with ammonia and drying oil, alder wood is used in the construction of decorative furniture and in carpentry.
• Being exposed to water for a long time, alder wood acquires significant strength; it is used to build wells, underwater structures and in the manufacture of barrels.

• Dyes for cloth and leather are obtained from the bark of black alder.
• Alder firewood burns well and has high heat output. It’s not for nothing that they are called “royal”.
• In cooking, firewood and sawdust from this tree are used for smoking meat and fish. In this matter, alder firewood has superior properties to all others.
• Alder cones and bark, which contain large quantities of tannins, are widely used. Decoctions from the bark and cones are taken in folk medicine as an astringent. Purulent wounds heal faster if young black alder leaves are applied. For diathesis and eczema, drink a decoction of flowers collected at the beginning of flowering. For hemorrhoids and constipation, a vodka infusion of alder earrings is used.
• Traditional medicine widely uses black alder leaves because of their protein, carotene, and vitamin C content. A dry extract, thamelin, is produced from the cones, which is used for dysentery.

Alder is not a graceful tree at all. But in some of its properties it is not inferior to birch and even oak. Alder is increasingly gaining environmental and economic importance.

Black alder (Alnus glutinosa)

The plant reaches a height of 30 meters, the bark is dark brown, rough, covered with a network of small cracks.

Photo of black alder
Earrings. It blooms long before the leaves develop. Male flowers are concentrated in yellow catkins.	The leaves are folded, have the appearance of sinuous, ovate or round, solitary, long-petiolate. The edge of the leaf blade is serrated. The leaf has 5-7 pairs of veins and is dark green.
Green fruit. The female inflorescences turn into a small oval cone up to 2 cm long.	Ripe fruit - cone

The varieties are very resistant to stagnant water.

Origin: Europe and Western Asia.

Photo of black alder.

Green alder (Alnus viridis)

This is a very common shrub (rarely small tree), with dense shoots. Reaches a height of up to 4 m. Creates numerous shoots bent in the shape of a braid. Annual shoots are olive-green or red-brown, slightly flattened and pubescent.

Photo of green alder
Catkins are male inflorescences.	The leaves are ovate or elliptical, up to 6 cm long, pointed, with double carved edges. The veins are clearly visible, in the number of 5-10 pairs, slightly pubescent at the corners.	The ripe fruit is a cone. The fruit is spherical or ovoid, highly lignified, resembling tiny Pine cones. Contains nuts. They remain on the plant for a long time.

The buds are convex, conical, covered with 4-6 purple-brown or greenish ciliated scales, sometimes slightly sticky. The plant is monoecious (separate male and female inflorescences appear on one plant). Before winter, the rudiments of male and female inflorescences appear on the branches, which bloom only in spring. They bloom simultaneously with the development of foliage (April-May) and are wind-pollinated.

The plant grows especially abundantly along streams. Prevents erosion and strengthens slopes. Its pollen sometimes causes allergies.

Origin: Found in North America, Europe and Asia (including Siberia and Kamchatka).

It was brought from America and belongs to the birch family. The name comes from "Alnus", which in Latin means "coastal".

The article will introduce you to amazing plant, you will find out what it looks like, in which forests you can find it and where its raw materials are used. Alder, photos of the tree and leaves are presented below.

Description of the bush

The shrub can grow up to three meters long. Flowering begins in mid-summer and ends in the first month of autumn. It has yellow flowers with a white sheen.

The inflorescence is up to 15 cm long. This is one of the most valuable tree species. She brings forth drupes, these are her fruits. It is also the first of the Russian trees to bloom in mid-spring, before the wind-pollinated leaves bloom.

The forest is still frowning, stripped, snowdrifts are melting somewhere, and from afar a reddish tree is already visible when it begins to bloom.

If you get closer, you can admire the blackened leafless branches with dangling brownish-red catkins.

Gradually the decorations swell and yellow clouds of pollen fill the atmosphere. Small female flowers pollinate surrounding plants, and, as a result, green cones are formed in which seeds are born.

Why is it ahead of other trees during flowering? Here's why: the previous summer it was preparing for the coming warmth. In July, men's earrings are cut on the branches. They develop until November, and by January they are fully ripened. They contain a certain amount of pollen. All that remains is to wait for the first rays of the gentle luminary.

The female flowers look like a picture of little wildflowers. After pollination, as a rule, the leaves are sealed with resin, develop and change, transforming into lumps.

By September, the hard lumps become thick and hang around until April. Seeds ripen inside them. The premature onset of spring contributes to the daily growth of earrings by three centimeters. When the scales are retracted, the flowers open and turn to dust.

Light contact with jewelry forms a cloud of pollen, of which a lot is released: from one earring - up to 30 mg. Distinctive feature lies not in the first flowering, but also in the fact that the fruits ripen in November.

Basically, such vegetation is undemanding. Loves moist, cool soil. It is highly resistant to heat and wind. It tolerates winter well and loves light. Usually propagated by seeds or cuttings.

Grows in open areas or in forests. Adapts well to life with other trees: birch, spruce, oak, etc. Feels good in open areas. This is evidenced by the fruits that appear after 9 years. In places with constant shade, they appear only at 35 years of age. Lives for more than a hundred years.

Varieties

In our country you can find two types: black and gray. Each of them has its own characteristics and the following description of the types will help not to confuse them.

Black - grows up to 30 m in height and up to 80 cm in diameter. Gray - often grows into a dense bush. Sometimes it is no more than 15 m in height and no more than 30 cm in thickness.

The difference lies in the color of the bark and the shape of the leaves. The first type is gloomy, sticky leaves in the shape of an egg. The second variety has leaves that are usually elliptical in shape with sharp edges.

Let's look at where each species grows. The black variety predominates on the wet coasts of rivers and lakes. Gray - can be seen on dry hills. It freely occupies cuttings, wastelands, and ashes.

True, the humidity and nutritional value of the soil are similar. Glued is so named because the young leaves are very sticky. And dark crusts form on old black alder trunks.

Medicinal properties

The alder tree is characterized by an amazing combination of three colors at once: fiery bark, emerald leaves, dark brown branches. According to popular signs, this depicts the traditional trinity: fire, water and earth.

The black velvet light plant is perfectly trimmed, but has one drawback - it is too fragile. Alder - white tree, however, when cut down, the color will turn brownish-red.

The vegetation in question is interesting for its beneficial properties for people and other vegetation. It fertilizes the soil with nitrogen. Its roots consist of nodule formations, shelters for bacteria and nitrogen helpers.

Small roots, together with tree nodules, are happily eaten by catfish. This is caused by the following: the leaves fall and shed various animals on which the brother fish feed. This is a sweet spot for fishermen.

The tree's charcoal is also highly regarded. It is designed to be equipped with anti-chemical equipment; alder chips are also used for smoking.

The next way to use it is to extract good paint. First, the bark is kept in water for two days, then filtered. If you keep the material in the solution for half an hour, it will turn brown.

People have been using this plant for a long time medicinal purposes. Scientists studied it in 1942. Pharmaceuticals have mastered the techniques for making themelin.

Doctors prescribe medications containing alder extract for long-term stomach diseases, inflammation of the small and large intestines.

Flower catkins are usually collected in the spring. With their help, creams for diathesis and eczema are made. At the dacha, many people grow this plant to make jam from alder cones.

IN rural areas people will tell you how to harvest buds and leaves for certain diseases. Can be used for stomach pain or colds. Used for purulent-necrotic inflammation of the hair follicle.

Photo of alder

Alder wood is light, soft, uniform in structure, and easy to split. That’s why it is often used to make plywood and is well painted and processed. Gray alder wood is used to make the highest quality drawing charcoal and charcoal that is used for the production of gunpowder.

Wood has an interesting property: those parts of it that have been touched by a saw or an ax quickly acquire a beautiful reddish tint when exposed to air. This happens because at the site of the cut, in damaged living tissues, intracellular pressure changes, tannins-polyphenols are forced out, which easily oxidize in air, forming phlobaphens - amorphous substances brown and reddish tones. They determine the color of a fresh cut. It is no coincidence that wood perfectly imitates the most valuable species- walnut, mahogany and ebony.

She also has one more thing important quality- very high water resistance. The same phlobafens in cold water do not dissolve - this creates a good protective barrier, and the tannins contained form with salts of heavy metals (of which there are always a lot of water) poorly soluble compounds, which, when precipitated, strengthen it. If we take into account that tannins have excellent antimicrobial and antifungal properties, it becomes clear why alder wood is so resistant to rotting in both soil and water. That is why barrels and well frames, mine support, and various parts of underground and underwater structures are made from its wood.

Alder cones and tkhmelini

• Back
• Forward

Grape

In gardens and personal plots, you can choose a warmer place for planting grapes, for example, on the sunny side of the house, garden pavilion, or veranda. It is recommended to plant grapes along the border of the site. The vines formed in one line will not take up much space and at the same time will be well lit from all sides. Near buildings, grapes must be placed so that they are not exposed to water flowing from the roofs. On level areas it is necessary to make ridges with good drainage due to drainage furrows. Some gardeners, based on the experience of their colleagues from western regions countries dig deep planting holes and fill them with organic fertilizers and fertilized soil. The holes, dug in waterproof clay, are a kind of closed vessel that is filled with water during the monsoon rains. In fertile soil, the root system of grapes develops well at first, but as soon as waterlogging begins, it suffocates. Deep holes can play a positive role on soils where good natural drainage, permeable subsoil is provided, or reclamation artificial drainage is possible. Planting grapes

You can quickly restore an outdated grape bush using the layering method (“katavlak”). For this purpose, healthy vines of a neighboring bush are placed in grooves dug to the place where the dead bush used to grow, and covered with earth. The top is brought to the surface, from which a new bush then grows. Lignified vines are laid on layering in the spring, and green ones - in July. They are not separated from the mother bush for two to three years. A frozen or very old bush can be restored by short pruning to healthy above-ground parts or by pruning to the “black head” of an underground trunk. In the latter case, the underground trunk is freed from the ground and completely cut down. Not far from the surface, new shoots grow from dormant buds, due to which a new bush is formed. Neglected and severely frost-damaged grape bushes are restored due to stronger fatty shoots formed in the lower part of the old wood and the removal of weakened sleeves. But before removing the sleeve, a replacement is formed. Grape care

A gardener starting to grow grapes needs to thoroughly study the structure of the grapevine and the biology of this interesting plant. Grapes are vine (climbing) plants and require support. But it can spread along the ground and take root, as is observed with Amur grapes in a wild state. The roots and aboveground part of the stem grow quickly, branch strongly and reach large sizes. Under natural conditions, without human intervention, a branched bush of grapes grows with many vines of different orders, which begins to bear fruit late and produces crops irregularly. In cultivation, grapes are shaped and the bushes are given a shape that is easy to care for, ensuring a high yield of high-quality bunches. Planting lemongrass

Schisandra chinensis, or schisandra, has several names - lemon tree, red grapes, gomisha (Japanese), cochinta, kozyanta (Nanai), kolchita (Ulch), usimtya (Udege), uchampu (Oroch). In terms of structure, systemic relationship, center of origin and distribution, Schisandra chinensis has nothing in common with the real citrus plant lemon, but all its organs (roots, shoots, leaves, flowers, berries) exude the aroma of lemon, hence the name Schisandra. The schisandra vine that clings or wraps around a support, along with Amur grapes and three types of actinidia, is an original plant of the Far Eastern taiga. Its fruits, like real lemons, are too sour for fresh consumption, but they have medicinal properties, a pleasant aroma, and this attracted a lot of attention to him. The taste of Schisandra chinensis berries improves somewhat after frost. Local hunters who consume such fruits claim that they relieve fatigue, invigorate the body and improve vision. The consolidated Chinese pharmacopoeia, compiled back in 1596, states: “the fruit of Chinese lemongrass has five tastes, classified as the first category of medicinal substances. The pulp of lemongrass is sour and sweet, the seeds are bitter and astringent, and in general the taste of the fruit is salty. Thus, All five tastes are present in it." Grow lemongrass