Alder is the tree of the soul. Alder: where it grows, what it looks like, the beneficial properties of the plant Alder is a coniferous or deciduous tree

Every year, many plants rush to announce the onset of spring. Alder can also give a good hint to summer residents. A photo of this tree allows everyone to understand how beautiful it can look at this time of the year. Alder is decorated with smooth bark, and its rounded leaves retain their green color until the first frost.

Alder tree: description

This tree has very lush crown, however, it is still somewhat sparse due to the fact that the branches are unevenly spaced. When the snow has not melted everywhere yet, the alder is already signaling the onset of spring, which is manifested in its active flowering. Therefore, it is enough to know when the alder blossoms in order to understand that winter begins to lose its strength.

Moreover, winds help her to get ahead of many other plants by entering the flowering phase, thanks to which her pollination occurs.

When the alder begins to bloom, it is decorated with beautiful earrings, which are divided into women's and men's. If during the formation they look habitually green, then at the ripening stage they become red-brown.

Women's earrings quite small and reach a length of about 1 cm, hang on branches in groups of up to 8 pieces, a sign of their ripeness is the acquisition of a woody shell. Male earrings have their own differences in this regard: they grow on branches of 4-5 pieces, they are quite large in size, having a length of 5-9 cm. The appearance of leaves occurs only after the end of flowering of the alder.

The fruits are small green cones. Moreover, the latter also differ from each other: some grow wingless, others are membranous or leathery. Throughout the winter, the cones are in a closed state, but already with the onset of March they open, as a result of which the seeds fall into the soil. They reach the ripening stage only at the end of autumn. Alder leaves are a very useful fertilizer, because they contain a lot of nitrogen.

Alder as part of the natural complex

On average these trees grow for about 100 years. Although there are also centenarians who can please with their appearance for 150 years. Their favorite places to grow are areas with moist soil. Therefore, alder can often be found on the banks of various reservoirs.

With a combination of favorable factors, thickets - alder forests - can form. In the northern regions, alder grows in the form of a coniferous tree. In the south, it has an extremely small representation, which is why it is included in mixed forests along with oak and beech. Also, this tree feels great with other representatives of forests - birch, spruce, oak, linden and aspen.

Alder can be used not only for decorative purposes, but also interesting as a honey plant. During its development, it forms buds and leaves rich in resinous substances, which are used by bees as a raw material for the production of propolis.

You can also find use for dry alder leaves, because they can be used as livestock feed.

Black alder: deciduous tree

Although this tree includes many species, the most common among them is the black alder, which is so named because of the corresponding color of its bark. This tree is also mentioned in Greek mythology, where it often appears at fire festivals, symbolizing the onset of spring. Alder is a photophilous plant It is also very responsive to moisture. If it is planted in damp places, then later alder swamps can form there. However, standing water is detrimental to her.

During the year, black alder quickly gains height. Mature plants can grow up to 20 m. It pleases with its flowers earlier than other trees, since they appear already in April. The situation is somewhat different with fruits that reach maturity only at the end of next spring.

Unlike other types of black alder requires special care. This variety is under protection in many countries - Moldova, Kazakhstan and certain regions of Russia. Often, black alder is used to create landscape design for parks and squares. It can also be used for planting along water bodies, with the aim of strengthening the banks. It copes with this task perfectly, because it has a widely branched root system.

Beauty with brown earrings

Gray alder is one of the fairly common species of the birch family. It stands out for its large size, since it can grow up to 16 m. For its planting, the banks of reservoirs and ravines are chosen, which are threatened by destruction. To obtain planting material, you can use young shoots, cuttings or seeds.

The trunk of this tree has a characteristic gray color, leaves also look, brown earrings act as a decorative part. Therefore, when you see a tree that has these signs, know that you have an alder in front of you. Many appreciate this plant because of its ability to withstand severe frosts and grow well in nutrient-poor soils and wetlands.

Scope of application

Alder is valued not only because of its attractive appearance, as it has a lot of other useful properties.

In the decorative arts

Alder grown from young seedlings growing pretty fast, often this leads to the appearance of wild thickets. At this stage of its life cycle, it has a uniform wood structure that is easy to process. Because of this, it is often used in industry.

Alder is one of the most popular materials for creating artistic carvings. It is used in the manufacture of carved dishes, decorative panels and sculptures. As a result of the processing of wood by dry distillation, coals can be obtained, which are highly valued by artists. Of particular importance in a decorative sense are specimens whose trunks are decorated with influxes.

In folk medicine

This tree is also valued as a remedy for the treatment of many diseases. Useful properties have cones, leaves and bark of alder, rich in tannins. Effective medicines are decoctions and tinctures based on alder cones and bark, since they have an astringent, anti-inflammatory, disinfectant, antibacterial and hemostatic effect.

• if there is a purulent wound, then it is enough to attach a leaf of a black alder tree to it, and very soon it will heal;
• vodka infusion of earrings can help people who suffer from hemorrhoids and constipation;
• to combat diathesis and eczema, a decoction of flowers is used, which must be prepared at the very beginning of flowering.

You can restore the natural intestinal microflora after a course of antibiotics with a decoction of alder cones. Also, this tool helps to cope with diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. It is often used in such conditions., how:

• inflammation of the nasopharynx and throat;
• cold;
• angina;
• pharyngitis.

In order to stop bleeding from the nose, it is useful to keep swabs made from fresh alder leaves in it. Traditional healers recommend taking a decoction to combat gout, arthritis and joint pain.

The effective means are dry baths, which are prepared on the basis of freshly picked leaves.

• they should be heated in the sun or in an oven, and then they are laid on the bed and let the patient lie down on them. You can also cover the affected areas of the body with heated alder leaves, and wrap a warm blanket on top. In this case, the effect will be maximum if such a procedure lasts at least an hour;
• this remedy works even better if the leaves are heated in a deep tub, in which the patient must then be placed up to the neck. According to the same scheme, they fight ailments using birch leaves.

When visiting a bath, it is very useful to use alder brooms, which have a cleansing, disinfecting, tonic effect, and are also able to fill the body with energy.

In production

The ease of processing alder wood has led to the fact that it often used in industry. Various operations can be carried out on it, including polishing, varnishing and staining. Also, this tree retains a holistic structure when screws are screwed into it. Changes can be observed when driving nails, which is manifested in the flaking of wood.

Drying alder does not affect its properties in any way: it takes a minimum of time, and during this operation there are no defects in the form of warping or cracks. This feature has made alder one of the most preferred materials for the manufacture of musical instruments and accessories for them.

Collection and preparation of cones

A favorable moment for harvesting cones comes at the end of autumn. And you can continue to collect them until March. The process of collecting cones itself has its own characteristics: first you need to carefully cut the ends of the branches with cones with secateurs, and then fruits are plucked from them. Cones that lie on the ground do not have the necessary properties, so they cannot be used. After harvesting, the cones are laid out in an even layer under a canopy or in the attic, where air must be provided, where the drying procedure is carried out. If it is warm enough outside, then you can dry the fruits in the open air, not forgetting to stir them from time to time. With proper drying, the cones retain their beneficial properties for three years.

Conclusion

Few of us are familiar with a tree like alder, and in vain. After all, she is one of the first to signal the onset of spring, starting early flowering even at the moment when all the snow has not yet melted. At this stage of its development, the tree forms beautiful earrings, which give it even more decorative properties. However, alder looks most attractive when it has cones.

Although in this case you will have to be patient, since they are formed only next spring. But alder is of interest not only because of its decorative properties, because it is often used to make effective drugs for the treatment of diseases. Wood is used in industry, because it easily tolerates various types of processing, without being covered by any serious defects.

Alder is a widespread deciduous tree or shrub from the Birch family. The largest population is concentrated in the temperate climate zone of the Northern Hemisphere. Individual species are also found in South America and Asia. Alder grows in mixed deciduous forests on moist, well-fertilized soils. Prefers neighborhood with oak and beech. The scientific name of the plant "Alnus" is translated - "by the shore". It is not surprising that most plants are found on the banks of fresh water bodies and rivers. The people also call the tree “Valkhal”, “Forester”, “Olekh”, “Yelshina”. Alder is famous for its wood and medicinal properties. It looks great on the site, is used in traditional medicine and the woodworking industry.

plant description

Alder is a perennial deciduous shrub or tree with a developed but superficial rhizome. Because of this, large varieties are often blown by the wind. Over time, small swellings form on the roots, filled with nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Processing nitrogen from the atmosphere, alder very effectively saturates and enriches the soil with it. The shoots have a rounded section and are covered with a smooth grayish-brown bark. In places where new branches appear, horizontal wrinkles form. Triangular or heart-shaped lenticels are noticeable on the bark of young shoots.

Alder leaves are oval or obovate, with a wide, rounded end and serrated or wavy edges. The leaf surface is smooth, wrinkled between the veins. The foliage grows alternately on short petioles. Stipules fall early.

At the end of spring, same-sex flowers bloom on the alder. Stamens are concentrated at the ends of young shoots in long flexible inflorescences (catkins). They are red-brown or yellow-brown in color. Catkins with pistillate flowers are shorter and denser spikes at the bottom of the shoot. Flowering begins with the blooming of the leaves.

Pollination occurs with the help of wind. After it, fruits ripen - miniature cones with woody scales. Ripening is completed by mid-autumn. Inside each nut there is a single nut with wings (rarely without them). The valves of a mature cone open and the seeds spill out. The release process may be delayed until spring. The wind carries the seeds over fairly long distances, and spring streams complete the migration process for many kilometers from the mother plant.

Alder species

Today, 29 species of plants are assigned to the alder genus. However, scientists cannot yet come to a consensus, since the plant itself is prone to modification and hybridization, therefore, some species are classified as hybrid varieties of others.

The plant lives in the temperate climate of Western Asia, North Africa and throughout Europe. It is a tree up to 35 m in height, often with several trunks up to 90 cm in diameter. The branches perpendicular to the trunk form a dense pyramidal crown with a diameter of about 12 m. The maximum growth rate is reached at the age of 5-10 years. The life cycle is 80-100 years. Single specimens live up to 3 centuries. The developed rhizome is located in the upper layers of the soil and is covered with nodules. The leaves are almost round in shape with pinnate venation. Their length is 6-9 cm, and their width is 6-7 cm. In early spring, 4-7 cm long earrings bloom at the ends of the branches. They have a yellowish-brown color. Pistillate catkins are almost black, they grow on an elongated flexible stem and are 1.2-2 cm long and up to 1 cm wide. The fruits do not exceed 3 mm in length. In autumn, their flattened notched surface becomes wrinkled, reddish-brown.

Very decorative and beautiful tree up to 20 m in height. Its trunk and branches are covered with almost smooth light gray bark, and young sprouts are dark red. At first, the green growth is densely pubescent, and then becomes bare. The ovate dark green leaves have a pointed edge and serrated sides. On the reverse side, the leaf plate is covered with reddish villi. Staminate inflorescences cast red-brown. Egg-shaped cones grow up to 15-25 mm in length.

An unpretentious spreading shrub or tree up to 20 m in height has a narrow ovoid crown. The cylindrical curved trunk reaches a width of 50 cm. Longitudinal outgrowths and depressions are clearly visible on it. The variety at an early age grows very quickly. The rhizome is located at a depth of up to 20 cm. The bark is dark gray, not sticky. The oval or lanceolate leaves have a smooth leathery surface above, and are densely covered with a silvery pile on the back. Their length is 4-10 cm, and their width is 3-7 cm. Flowering occurs in early spring, before the leaves bloom.

Alder wood

Alder is actively used in the woodworking and furniture industry. And although the wood of the plant is not distinguished by its high density and strength, it is popular for its lightness, resistance to decay and water. At a low cost, wood is quite light. It behaves well when dried (does not warp or crack). The advantage is the uniform color of the heartwood and sapwood.

Alder is used to make parts for wells, ships, interior decoration. It is with her that woodcarvers love to work. Thread spools and other small items are also made from this tree.

Alder firewood burns without excess soot and exudes a pleasant smell. This is the best material for a bath or cooking.

Reproduction methods

Alder is propagated by seeds, cuttings and root shoots. The most common is the seed method and especially self-sowing. By autumn, ripe cones begin to open and release seeds. During November-March, they fall into the ground and undergo natural stratification. After that, during the period of snow melting, the seeds are saturated with moisture and hatch. When planting, the seeds are embedded in the melted soil to a depth of 2.5-3 cm. In the first year, only a small sprout is formed and a rhizome develops. Gradually, the seedlings become stronger and quickly turn into a lush bush or a small tree. Every year it will add 50-100 cm in height.

Often young sprouts appear from the trunk. In just a year, their height can reach 1-1.5 m. In the spring, the offspring can be dug up and transplanted to a new place. It is recommended to keep a clod of old earth on the roots and not let it dry out.

In spring and summer, cuttings 12-16 cm long are cut from young shoots. They are rooted immediately in open ground. The best survival rate is shown by plants treated with a root formation stimulator. Cuttings need to be watered regularly. By autumn, the plants will take root and become strong enough to overwinter without shelter.

Landing and care rules

Alder is very unpretentious to the location and composition of the soil. It grows well in partial shade and in the open sun, on gummed loams and poor sandy soils. Thanks to its ability to enrich the earth with nitrogen, the alder itself will create a nutrient layer for itself and other representatives of the flora. The exception is black alder, which can grow normally only on nutritious and moist soil. It is suitable for ennobling and strengthening the coastal zone or beams, where groundwater comes close to the surface.

For planting, it is recommended to use soil with a neutral or slightly alkaline reaction. Lime, humus and fertilizer ("Kemira") are preliminarily introduced into the ground. Planting is best done during the growing season. A layer of drainage material (sand, gravel) is laid out at the bottom of the landing pit. Then straighten the roots and fill the free space with fertilized soil. The root neck should be flush with the surface. The earth is plentifully watered and tamped, and the surface is mulched with a layer of chopped straw, peat or wood chips.

Further care for the alder is practically not needed. In the year of planting, the plants must be watered more often, while avoiding stagnation of water in the upper layers of the soil. For better aeration of the roots, the earth is regularly loosened and weeds are removed. It is not necessary to wield the tool too deeply so as not to damage the roots.

Also in the first year, plants should be fed with compost or organic fertilizers. From next year, the need for this procedure will disappear.

On the eve of wintering, no special events need to be carried out, since alder is highly winter-hardy. She is not afraid of even harsh and snowless winters.

Medicinal properties

Alder can be called a useful and even healing plant, which has great benefits for human health. Cones, leaves, bark and roots contain tannins, flavonoids, minerals and vitamins. Alcoholic and aqueous infusions, as well as decoctions, are made from medicinal raw materials of black or gray alder. The drugs help with colds, bronchitis, irritations and ulcers on the skin, inflammation of the mucous membranes, bleeding. Alder has anti-inflammatory, astringent, hemostatic, expectorant effects.

A decoction of cones is drunk for colitis, dysentery, diarrhea, bleeding from the gastrointestinal tract, nose and mouth. They rinse their mouths with stomatitis and periodontitis. Root tinctures are recommended for women to normalize reproductive function and the menstrual cycle, to combat inflammation of the genital organs.

Usually, alder preparations have no contraindications, with the exception of an allergic reaction. However, everything needs a measure, it is not recommended to abuse and exceed the recommended dosages, since certain components tend to accumulate in the body.

landscape use

The oval, openwork crown of an alder with moving branches and fluttering leaves looks very lively. Plants do not suffer from urban air pollution, so they can be planted along the road. As a hedge, low trees or lush shrubs up to 3 m high are usually used. They are planted in a tape way rather densely and regularly shaped.

Large single-stemmed trees are used in single plantings or in groups over a large area. They are planted along paths and alleys. Also, alder can be used in compositions of shrubs and trees, combining plants with different colors and structures of foliage.

What is an alder, why do some consider it a tree, while others consider it a shrub? The truth is both. It all depends on the conditions in which it grows. It can change its shape, taking the form of a deciduous bush with cones, or it can transform and become a branchy tree.

Let's talk about this magical tree with small knobs, which at one time was considered sacred, was a symbol of fertility.

Myths and legends

There are many myths and legends about this tree. It is mentioned in Greek mythology. The first musical instrument of Orpheus was an alder pipe. The connection between the flute and alder can be traced in the name of this musician, which, according to some historians, is shortened from Orphruoeis - "growing on the river bank", thus indicating the alder.

The shores of the caves of the sorceresses Sercea and Calypso, who held Odysseus, were overgrown with alder. In myths there is no specification of what kind this or that alder was, but in nature there are many varieties. The fact that the tree has ancient roots is evidenced by the existence of a certain tribe of Arverns - "alder people" who lived in the territory where the Celts lived.

Alder growing areas

The alder tree grows in North America, where since ancient times it has been called "alnus", which translates as "coastal". It belongs to the Birch family, as having earrings and bumps. The places where alder grows are different. It can be areas with high humidity: rivers, streams, swamps, lakes. It feels good in the forest-steppe and mixed forests, where there are aspens, birches, spruces and oaks. There are various types of alder in the regions of Western Siberia and the Urals. The range of gray alder covers most of Europe, the species is found in Asia Minor and some oases of North Africa. In the Carpathians and the Alps, it can be found at significant heights above sea level.

Alder species

In total, botanists have confirmed the existence of about 40 species of alder. The most common include:

• black alder, which is considered one of the best medicinal species;
• gray alder with ovate leaves and superficial roots;
• white, with light gray bark and leaves with double-serrated edges;
• red straight-barreled;
• shrub alder, rapidly growing.

In addition to the above species in Siberia and the Far East, you can find: Siberian, fluffy, Japanese, Italian, which are interspecific hybrids, and the established names are more related to the places where these types of alder grow.

Alder tree: description

If we consider the features of the appearance, it all depends on the places of its growth, the species to which it belongs, as well as the soils on which it grows. A tree that grows on fertile soil can reach a height of up to 25 meters by the age of fifty. Black alder grows up to 35 meters. And what does alder look like on soils with poor fertility? It grows as a bush, living up to 60-70 years.

Alder has a lush crown. But it is not homogeneous, somewhat sparse due to the uneven arrangement of branches. Alder is one of the first to signal that spring has come. This is manifested in the abundant flowering of the tree. At this time, it stands decorated with beautiful earrings, which are divided into male and female. Women's earrings are no more than 1 cm in size, while men's ones reach sizes of 5 - 9 cm. The article presents species photos of alder trees and leaves that appear after flowering.

Fruit

Alder cones of different sizes are fruits. Depending on its type, they are membranous and leathery, while others are wingless. All winter the cones hang closed on the alder, opening only in March and sowing the soil with their seeds.

Cones can be harvested in late autumn and winter if alder grows in the garden. When harvesting cones, they are cut with garden shears. The buds are dried at room temperature. Dried fruits become brown or brown in color. They give off a light scent. They have an astringent taste.

Alder blooms in April and before blooming leaves, having an oval or round shape, it is pollinated by the wind. She prepared for spring flowering the previous summer. It is at this time that men's earrings are laid, which grow and form until late autumn. By winter, they have a supply of pollen ready. The fruits of this alder ripen by the spring of next year. They are cones with a narrow wing. This is clearly seen in the photo of the tree and alder leaves.

The bark is dark in color, with a significant number of cracks on old branches.

Black alder is found in North America, Europe, Ukraine and the Baltic countries. Likes wetlands. Sometimes black alder has the appearance of thickets, especially in those places where there is a stream or a small river. There is even a sign among the people: "Where there is a good alder, there is a heap of hay." This type of alder is included in the Red Books of Kazakhstan, Moldova and some regions of Russia. Black alder is quite often used by landscapers for planting valley parks.

Black alder has a significant number of decorative species that differ in the shape of the leaf blade and the shape of the crown. What does the alder of these decorative species look like? For example, oakleaf has lobed leaves similar to oak leaves; in rowan-leaved foliage of a pinnate-lobed species; royal has small, more deeply cut leaves. And all this is alder.

Scope of a black alder

Characteristic in the description of this species of alder is the value of its wood. In ancient times, it was known that it is durable and does not rot, so it was used for lining wells, making barrels and underwater structures. When drying wood, cracks do not form on it. This makes it possible to make musical instruments from it, in particular, flutes and pipes.

In ancient times, shoes were made from alder wood and bark. Due to the pliability and softness of wood, it is used for the manufacture of sculptures and panels. Alder wood after felling changes its color from white to red. When it is treated with ammonia and drying oil, it acquires a beautiful ebb. Samples of decorative furniture are constructed from such wood. Amulets, talismans and amulets are made from alder, sincerely believing that they will help protect both the hearth and the person.

In folk medicine, alder bark and cones are used, which contain a large amount of tannins. Purulent wounds are treated with young leaves, and for diathesis, a decoction of black alder flowers is prepared. Alcohol infusions of alder earrings are used for constipation.

Trees of this species can be found on the dry uplands of the European part of Russia. This is a low type of plant, often having the appearance of a large shrub with superficial roots. Gray alder can often be seen on the edge of spruce forests and in fields that once served as arable land. Why is this type of alder called gray? Most likely, this is due to the color of the bark and the shade of alder leaves, which occurs due to a small edge that gives silver. Further in the article are photos of an alder tree and leaves, which are egg-shaped. The slightly pointed tip of the alder leaf makes it look like a birch leaf. Gray alder blooms, like black alder, long before the leaves appear.

As mentioned above, gray alder has superficial roots. Microorganisms settle in them, which, absorbing gaseous nitrogen from the air, turn it into nitrogenous compounds. Due to this, gray alder is a natural creator of nitrogenous fertilizers. There is another interesting property of the tree: in autumn, alder leaves look green, as in spring. The tree sheds leaves that are not dyed crimson and gold, preparing for winter. They stay green when they fall to the ground and rot very quickly, improving the topsoil.

Decorative forms of gray alder are varied. For example, blue alder, common in North America, has the form of a shrub or a low (6 meters) tree with dove-colored leaves, sometimes with a lower edge. Golden has a reddish shoot color, and the leaves are pubescent and slightly yellowish.

There is a variety of decorative gray alder called ugly. It has flat, creeping branches.

Scope of gray alder

The wood is used to make decorative ornaments and furniture. Red, brown and green paint is obtained from the bark of the tree. Gray alder does not rot in water. Like black, it was used in the foundations of some medieval cathedrals. Many cathedrals and castles in Venice still stand on alder stilts, as do watermills in Scotland. The gunsmiths of the Middle Ages knew a lot about alder wood. They valued wood as the best for coal, which was used to melt metal for swords.

Beekeepers know that alder pollen is an excellent food for bees. In folk and official medicine, alder is widely used due to tannins, vegetable and essential oils.

Infusions of lignified alder cones are used for all kinds of inflammatory diseases of internal organs, as well as in the form of dressings for non-healing trophic ulcers, eczema and burns. A broom of branches and leaves is an excellent bactericidal agent that tones the skin in a bath.

It grows in Italy and Albania. This is Alnus cordata - Italian (heart-shaped). The article presents a photo of an alder tree and leaves of this species, which is often confused with Alnus subcordata - heart-leaved. Italian alder has an ovoid crown. Its leaves are dense, smooth, oval in shape. They remain on the tree until December. They are shaped like cherry leaves. The bark of the tree is dark brown.

Growing alder in home gardens

Many summer residents like to plant ornamental trees and shrubs on their personal plots, turning part of the plot into a piece of a fairy-tale forest. Alder is no exception, especially since its bark, fruits, leaves, pollen are good folk remedies that are good to have always "at hand". You can plant ready-made perennial alder trees, small seedlings purchased from nurseries, seedlings from overgrowth dug in places of growth, or wait for seedlings planted on the site of seeds of one or another type of alder.

Alder refers to large-sized. They have a powerful root system, a height of more than 15 meters, a well-formed crown. If a sufficiently mature tree is planted on the site, the process is laborious. Here we need equipment that will bring a tree and plant it in a prepared place. Planting can be carried out at any time, but the best option would be to plant alder in autumn and even in winter, when the tree reacts least to temperature changes and is at rest.

In central Russia, landing time is from November to March. Care for a tree planted in this way consists in intensive watering and loosening in the first year after planting.

In the nursery, you can buy shrub alder, which reaches a height of 3 meters, or is formed in the form of a small tree, which is rarely higher than 10 meters. Shrub alder grows quickly, is not picky about the soil, demanding on moisture. Alder will transform even the most nondescript piece of a personal plot, turning it into a cozy green corner over time.

doctor of agricultural sciences, professor vegetable growing RGAU-MSHA named after K.A. Timiryazev

In our forests, an inconspicuous tree, the alder, is very common at first glance. She easily captures abandoned arable land and gardens, prefers wet places. People rarely look into the alder forest - good mushrooms do not grow there, and it is also not suitable for walking - nettles burn, and raspberries cling to clothes. But the power of this tree turns out to be something else. Alder is an important medicinal plant and occupies a worthy place in the list of scientific and traditional medicine. And it is also royal firewood. But first things first.

(Alnus incana) - deciduous tree from the birch family ( Betulaceae) up to 20 m high, or a large shrub with a rounded crown, silver-gray bark and a shallow root system.

Leaves petiolate, leaf blade ovate or broadly elliptical, serrate. Young leaves are densely pubescent, adults are pubescent only from below. Flowers are unisexual. Female - without perianth, collected in earrings. They sit in the axils of the scales of the inflorescence, which become stiff by autumn, turning into a small brown cone. Male flowers are located in the axils of the scales of long earrings. It blooms in March - April, before the leaves bloom and is a wind-pollinated plant. So the leaves would only get in the way. The fruits ripen in August - October. And they are flat, one-seeded nuts with narrow wings. Cones, without opening, hang on the tree until spring, at the end of February-March, the seeds spill out.

Gray alder grows in the forest and forest-steppe zones of the European part of Russia, in the North Caucasus, in Transcaucasia, in Western Siberia, in the Urals. It occurs along the banks of rivers and streams, in marshy places, along the banks of reservoirs, lakes, quickly forms thickets on abandoned arable land, especially where groundwater is close.

It is allowed to use medicinal raw materials of another type - sticky alder, or black, which grows in the same areas and in the same environmental conditions, only prefers even more humid places.

(Alnus glutinosa) has a grayish-brown bark, rounded obovate leaves, dark green above, dull below, sticky at a young age, for which the plant got its name.

In folk medicine, they also use infructescence fluffy alder (Alnus hirsuta) and Siberian alder (Alnus hirsuta var. sibirica), widespread in Siberia and the Far East.

Healing cones

Alder has been used for medicinal purposes for centuries. In Medieval herbalists, she is mentioned with enviable regularity. V. Strabo and Hildegade of Bingen (XII century) spoke favorably of her. In the herbalists of the 16th-17th centuries, recommendations are given for the external use of a decoction of the leaves for gout and fungal diseases of the feet.

In official medicine in Russia, seedlings (alder cones) are used. Cones are harvested in autumn and winter, when they are completely woody, from felled trees in cutting areas or from standing trees. Fallen seedlings are unsuitable for medical purposes. The cones are dried under a canopy, in sheds, on an oven, laying out a layer of 5-10 cm and stirring frequently. Shelf life of raw materials - 4 years.

Raw materials should consist of dry brown or dark brown seedlings, single or in clusters of several pieces on a thin stem 1 cm long, with open scales, with or without seeds. Odorless, taste - slightly astringent. Harvested raw materials differ according to the following features: seed fruits collected in the summer months are green or greenish-brown, the scales are stuck together, the cones of spring harvest are easily ground into a black-brown powder.

Not more than: moisture - 12%, total ash - 3.5%, ash insoluble in 10% hydrochloric acid - 1%, twigs and individual stalks - 1%, seedlings with a branch length (from the point of attachment stalks of the lower infructescence) over 20 mm - 3%, crushed particles passing through a sieve with holes with a diameter of 1 mm - 3%, organic impurities - 0.5%, mineral - 1%.

In folk medicine, in addition to cones, the bark of 2-3 year old twigs and leaves collected during sap flow are very widely used, which are collected in June and dried in a well-ventilated attic without direct sunlight.

In European countries, leaves and bark are medicinal raw materials.

gallotannin and even selenium

In addition, macronutrients (mg/g) were found in the inflorescences: potassium - 5.8, calcium - 5.0, magnesium - 0.8, iron - 0.2. They concentrate selenium.

Tinctures and decoctions for colitis

A decoction of the fruit is used as an astringent for acute and chronic enteritis, colitis, dyspepsia, dysentery, rheumatoid arthritis, and colds. Infusion, decoction and tincture of seedlings - a hemostatic agent for pulmonary uterine and especially gastric and intestinal bleeding.

Infusion prepared at the rate of: 4 g of cones per 1 cup of boiling water. Take 1/4 cup 3-4 times a day. In the case of using alder bark, the infusion was prepared from the calculation: 15 g of raw materials were poured into a glass of boiling water, insisted and taken 1 tablespoon 3-4 times a day. This is a very effective remedy for enteritis and enterocolitis.

For cooking decoction take 15 g of cones, pour a glass of boiling water, boil for 15 minutes, filter, cool and drink 1 tablespoon 2-3 times a day.

Infructescences are part of the gastric tea. Alder is also used in the form of a dry extract of seedlings. With these diseases, a dry extract from the inflorescences is indicated, take 0.5-0.6 g 3-6 times a day. The course of treatment is 3-5 days.

In gynecological practice, an infusion of seedlings or bark is used for uterine bleeding of various origins, uterine fibroids, and inflammations. With sore throat, they gargle with it, and with bleeding gums, they can be used to rinse the mouth.

This plant was widely used in Russia. But preference was often given to leaves. For lactating mothers, for abundant milk secretion, with mastopathy, it was recommended to apply fresh leaves in a steamed form to the breast several times a day. In winter, for lack of fresh, dry raw materials were used for these purposes. Fresh leaves crushed with water had a beneficial effect on suppuration, severe abscesses. With various bleedings, bloody diarrhea, hemoptysis, they took inside an infusion of a handful of alder leaves, filled with 240 ml of water. The infusion, sweetened with sugar or honey, was drunk in a small tea cup.

With gout, arthritis, joint pain, “dry baths” are good. Freshly picked, fresh alder leaves are heated in an oven or in the sun and spread on the bed in a thick layer. The patient is placed on the leaves with his back, they are wrapped around the whole body, covered with a warm blanket from above. The session lasts about an hour. It is even better if the leaves are put in a deep tub, and when they warm up and “light up”, plant them up to the neck or throat of the patient. This is how herbal healers treated in the old days. By the way, birch leaves are also used in the same way, the effect is also wonderful.

Also enjoyed bark tincture(25 g per 100 ml of alcohol or a glass of vodka). They took it 30-40 drops 2-3 times a day. Treated with these drugs and diarrhea.

Cows for diarrhea, dogs for fleas

Alder is an affordable and effective remedy in veterinary medicine. In a number of countries, fresh leaves are successfully used to control fleas by scattering them on the floor. A strong decoction of the leaves was used to wash beds and to treat walls to control bed bugs. These properties of alder can be successfully recommended for pest control of garden and horticultural crops. Alder cones were given to agricultural and domestic animals for bloody diarrhea. For example, cows were given 3 tablespoons every 1-2 hours.

Foresters consider alder a weed tree, the second grade. But such an attitude towards gray alder is clearly not deserved, since this plant is remarkable for many of its virtues. One of the amazing properties of a tree is the ability to settle on a completely barren land and at the same time improve, enrich the soil with nitrogen, like plants from the legume family. But unlike the latter, nodules on its roots are formed not by nitrogen-fixing bacteria, but by ray fungi - actinomycetes.

In addition, alder leaves easily decomposing, high-ash and nitrogen-containing foliage in the litter. All this led scientists - geobotanists to the idea of ​​using it for reclamation, that is, the restoration of disturbed lands, mine dumps, as well as for fixing the slopes of ravines and screes. Although, on the other hand, in the Middle Lane it often occupies abandoned arable land and it is extremely difficult to win back plots from it and turn them into fields again.

Alder wood is quite soft, homogeneous, reddening in the air, well processed, but not resistant to decay, therefore, as a building material, it is used mainly for interior work. It is used to imitate walnut, mahogany, in the manufacture of joinery, as well as for the production of plywood, matches and paper.

Firewood from gray alder was called Tsar's, because it was used to heat stoves in the royal chambers. And they deserved such an honor because, unlike birch and, moreover, oak firewood, they practically do not give fumes and soot, in terms of warmth - they are only slightly inferior to them. It is believed that spruce firewood is an unsurpassed material for smoking fish, hams and sausages. When dry distilled from alder wood, wood vinegar and coal are obtained.

The bark and leaves contain dyes used to color the skin red. Dark-brown or chestnut-colored dyes were obtained from alder, which were used to dye wool for carpets.

Their height under favorable conditions can reach 35-40 m, the maximum trunk diameter can reach 50-60 cm. The crown is well developed, dense, highly decorative, ovoid, narrow pyramidal, cylindrical or other shape. The bark is smooth, sometimes fissured, from light to dark brown.

Shoots are cylindrical, of different colors, glabrous or pubescent, with an irregularly triangular greenish-gray core, rounded or almost rounded light lenticels. The alder genus is variable in hairiness and glandularity, and the difference can be both between species and within a species. Kidneys sessile or pedunculated, with two scales, resinous or pubescent. Leaves only on growth shoots, alternate, petiolate, simple, entire, occasionally slightly lobed, usually serrated or lobed-toothed along the edge, with early falling stipules. The shape of the leaf is different - from almost round, ovate, obovate to lanceolate. The venation is pinnate.

Male and female flowers are monoecious, developing on the same shoot. Alder usually blooms before the leaves bloom or at the same time, this facilitates pollination, as the alder is pollinated by the wind. When growing outside plantations, alder begins to bear fruit from 8-10 years, in plantations - from 30-40 years. Fruiting is almost annual, but fruitful happens every 3-4 years.

Alder propagates by seeds, all species give numerous stump shoots, and some give root offspring. The ability for vegetative reproduction varies from species to species and between members of the same species. The fruits are single-seeded, flattened, small nuts with two lignified stigmas, bordered by a narrow leathery or membranous wing, located in small woody cones, into which female inflorescences turn. Seeds are dispersed by wind and water, beginning in autumn and may continue until spring. After the seeds have taken off, the cones remain on the tree for a long time.

Representatives of the alder genus are predominantly moisture-loving plants; they grow along the banks of rivers, streams, lakes, in grassy swamps, at the foot of hills, often confined to rich, well-drained soils. Black alder and gray alder are soil-improving species, as nodules with nitrogen-fixing organisms are located on their roots. The leaves of these alder species are high-ash, contain a large amount of nitrogen, alder leaf litter increases soil fertility, making it more loose. The root system is superficial, but powerful, as it is well developed, especially in the upper layers of the soil. Many species of alder are pioneers; they are the first to populate conflagrations, clearings, mountain outcrops, abandoned pastures, and then are replaced by other tree species.

The habitat of alder covers the cold and temperate climate zones of the Northern Hemisphere, the range of some species reaches Chile in South America along the Andes, and in Asia to the mountains of Bengal and the mountains of North Vietnam. In the northern part of the range, alder is an admixture of coniferous forest stands; in the north of the range, some species reach the tundra; in the mountains, they reach the subalpine belt. In the southern part of the range, alder is part of the beech and hornbeam forests.

Alder solid (Alnusfirma) - a tree or shrub up to 3 m in height with flexible branches. Shoots grayish-brown or yellowish-brown, pubescent. The kidneys are sessile. Leaves ovate-oblong or ovate-lanceolate, with 12-18 pairs of veins, 5-12 cm long, 2.5-5 cm wide, pointed at the apex, with a rounded or unequal base, pubescent along the veins below; petioles pubescent, 0.4-1.3 cm long. Staminate catkins solitary or paired, 5-7 cm long, bloom in March-April. Cones also solitary or paired, 2 cm long, on pubescent legs up to 2-5 cm long. It has several decorative forms. Natural range: Japan. In St. Petersburg, it is not winter hardy enough; it should be tested in areas south and west of Moscow.

Alder hanging (Alnuspendula) - a tree up to 8 m in height or a shrub with a weeping crown. Young shoots are pubescent, becoming smooth, brick-brown with age. Buds sessile, leaves oblong-lanceolate, 5-12 cm long, with 18-26 pairs of veins, pointed, pubescent along the veins below. Cones 8-15 mm long, collected 2-5 in hanging racemes 3-6 cm long. Natural range: Japan. Introduced to the USA in 1862.

Alder bush (Alnusfruticosa) in the northern parts of the range, especially in the tundra, a squat and even creeping shrub with shortened and twisted branches; in the southern parts of the range in Siberia and the Far East - a tree reaching a height of 6 m. A beautiful ornamental large-leaved shrub that can be used in landscaping as a shrub that retains green leaves for a long time in autumn. The bark is dark gray, young shoots are reddish-brown with yellowish lenticels. Leaves are broadly ovate, evenly tapering upward, sharp, with a rounded or unequal base, 5-10 cm long, 3-7 cm wide, with 8-10 pairs of veins, dark green above, glossy or matte, glabrous, paler below , in the lower part along the veins with reddish hairs. Staminate catkins 3.5-6 cm long, bloom simultaneously with the deployment of leaves. Cones are oval, 1.2-2.0 cm long, collected in racemes with 1-3 leaves at the base. Blooms from late April to June, in the tundra even in July. Range: northern regions of the European part of Russia. It grows in the north on riverine sands, along forest edges, in deciduous forests. In the southern regions of the range - in mountain valleys, on pebbles, along gravel slopes and stony screes, it reaches the size of a tree of medium height there.

A close view is green alder (Alnusviridis), common in the mountains of Western Europe. This tree is up to 20 m high. The bark is smooth, ash-gray, the young branches are brown and grayish-green, the shoots are brick-brown with light lenticels. The leaves are oval-ovate, evenly tapering upwards, sharp, with a rounded base. Known in culture in St. Petersburg, in the park of the Forestry Technical University, where it bears fruit, as well as in Moscow, Tallinn and Tartu.

Alder Manchurian (Alnusmanshurica) - a tree reaching a height of 15 m, with a trunk up to 25 cm in diameter, less often a tall sprawling shrub. The bark is smooth, dark gray. Buds sessile, leaves 7-8 cm long, 2.5-8 cm wide, broadly elliptical with a short obtuse cusp, glabrous, lateral veins 7-9 pairs. Staminate catkins bloom at the same time as the leaves. Blooms in May. Natural range: Far East (Primorsky Territory), China (Manchuria), Korea. It grows along the banks of rivers on sandy or rocky soil.

Olkha Maksimovich (AlnusMaximowiczii) - tree up to 10 m in height. The bark on the trunk is gray with rounded lenticels, the shoots are light brown with numerous lenticels. Buds sessile, leaves broadly or rounded ovate, 7-10 cm long and 7-8 cm wide, with a wide heart-shaped base, lateral veins 7-10 pairs; petioles 1-3 cm long. Cones 1.5-2 cm long, on legs. Blooms in May-June. Range: Far East (Primorsky Territory, Sakhalin), Northern Japan. It grows along the banks of streams and rivers. In St. Petersburg, it is quite winter-hardy.

Alder Kamchatka (Alnuskamtschatica) - a tree or shrub, 1-3 m in height, with a thick main trunk pressed to the soil, with ascending, straight branches forming a dense crown. In culture, it usually grows in a wide bush, without forming the main trunk. The bark is dark gray with lighter, larger lenticels. Buds sessile, highly resinous, pointed, 0.5 cm long. Leaves are ovate, dark green above and lighter below, short-pointed, rounded at the base, 5-10 cm long, 1-2 cm wide, with 8-9 pairs of veins; petioles 1-2 cm long. Blossoms before the appearance of leaves, at home in May-June, in St. Petersburg - in May. Cones are oval, dark brown, 12 mm long, collected in brushes of 3-5 pieces. The fruits ripen in autumn and fall off in winter and spring. Natural range: North-Eastern Siberia, Far East (Kamchatka, Okhotsk coast, Northern Sakhalin). It grows on mountain slopes and stony placers, in the undergrowth of birch forests, in river valleys, in the mountains it forms an alder belt, at the upper border of the forest it becomes a squat shrub with small foliage. The bark and leaves are used to make a dye that colors the skin. In St. Petersburg, it grows well in the park of the Botanical Garden, blooms and bears fruit. Due to its decorative crown and unpretentiousness, it can be widely used in landscaping the northern regions of the forest zone.

Alder cut (Alnussinuata) - a tree up to 12 m high, with a narrow crown and almost horizontal branches, or a shrub. Decorative due to large green foliage. It grows quite satisfactorily on cold and swampy soils. Shoots in youth with pubescence, buds sessile, leaves ovate, 6-12 cm long, pointed, with a rounded or broadly wedge-shaped base, sharp-toothed, light green above and paler below, with 5-10 pairs of veins, glabrous or pubescent along midrib, sticky when young; petiole with groove, 1.5-2 cm long. Flowers bloom at the same time as the leaves or later. Cones about 1.5 cm long, 3-6 in racemes on thin legs, up to 2 cm long. Natural range: North America - from Alaska to Oregon. Pretty stable in St. Petersburg.

Alder heart-shaped (Alnuscordata) - a tree reaching a height of 15 m, young shoots are sticky, later brick-brown, bare. Buds on legs, leaves almost round or broadly ovate, 5-10 cm long, with a deeply heart-shaped base, shortly pointed or rounded at the top, dark green and shiny above, lighter below, pubescent along the veins when young, petioles 2-3 cm in length. Anther catkins collected 3-6 in a brush, each 2-3 cm long. Cones erect, ovoid, 1.5-2.5 cm in length. Range: Italy and Corsica. Decorative rounded crown and glossy leaves, similar to pear leaves. Grows near water bodies. Introduced into culture in England in 1840.

Alder heart-leaved (Alnussubcordata) - a tree 15-20 m high or a shrub. Shoots pubescent, reddish-brown, with light lenticels. Kidneys on legs, pubescent, ovoid, obtuse. Leaves are round to oblong-ovate, 5-16 cm long, 4-11 cm wide, pointed at the apex, with a heart-shaped or rounded base, slightly sticky, finely serrated, glabrous above, dark green, pubescent along the veins and with barbules of hairs in the corners of the veins; lateral veins 10-12 pairs. Staminate catkins collected 3-5 in terminal racemes. Cones axillary, single or paired, oval-elliptical, 2.5 cm long and 1.3 cm wide. Natural range: Caucasus, Iran. In broad-leaved forests of the lower zone, in the mountains along the banks of streams up to an altitude of 1000 m above sea level. The wood is reddish-brown, veined, dense, resistant to water, easy to cut.

In St. Petersburg, it is not winter hardy enough. It was introduced into culture in England in 1838, in the USA in 1860.

Seaside alder (Alnusmaritime) - a tree or shrub up to 10 m high. Shoots are initially pubescent, faded orange or red-brown. Kidneys on legs, pointed, pubescent. Leaves elliptical or obovate, pointed or shortly pointed, 6-10 cm long, 3-6.5 cm wide, shiny rich green above, light green and glabrous below, petioles slightly pubescent. Cones collected in 2-4, about 2 cm long, on short legs. Blooms in autumn. Looks impressive in autumn thanks to dark green foliage and yellow dangling earrings. Range: North America. In St. Petersburg, it is not winter hardy enough. In England, introduced into culture in 1878. close view - alder shiny (Alnusnitida) , also blooming in autumn. A tree reaching a height of up to 30 m. Area: Himalayas.

Japanese alder (Alnusjaponica) - tree up to 25 m in height. It has a decorative ovoid crown and dense dark green foliage that lasts a long time in autumn. Young shoots glabrous or slightly pubescent; light olive or brick brown with lenticels. The buds on the legs are bare red-brown, resinous. Leaves narrowly elliptical or oblong-lanceolate, 6-12 cm long, 2-5 cm wide, gradually pointed towards the apex, with a wedge-shaped base, slightly pubescent when young, dark green shiny above, lighter below, petioles pubescent or glabrous, 2 -3.5 cm long. Cones are oval or oval-oblong, 1.2-2 cm long and 1-1.5 cm wide. Staminate catkins bloom in early spring and are collected in brushes of 4-8 pieces. Range: Far East (Primorsky Territory), China and Japan. Produces strong and dense wood. In St. Petersburg, it is not winter hardy enough, suitable for areas south and west of Moscow. Introduced in England in 1880, in the USA - in 1886.

Alder black, or sticky (Alnusglutinosa) - a tree reaching a height of 35 m, in youth with an ovoid, and then with a cylindrical crown. It grows quickly, lives up to 100 and even 300 years. Young branches are smooth, often sticky, brick-brown with whitish lenticels. The bark of the trunk is dark brown, becoming cracked with age. Kidneys obovate, 0.5-0.8 cm long, sticky, pedunculated. Leaves obovate or rounded, young - sticky, glossy, glabrous or hairy, adults - dark green, slightly shiny, with red beards at the vein angles below, 4-9 cm long, 3-7 cm wide, petioles 1-2 cm long . Leaves may not change color in autumn and fall off green. Staminate catkins collected in a brush of 3-6, drooping, 4-7 cm in length. Pistillate catkins are located below the stamens in the axils of the leaves, 3-5, on legs, which are usually longer than them. Blooms in late March - early April. Cones broadly ovate, 12-20 mm long and 10 mm wide, borne 3-5 on a long stalk. The fruits ripen by November, spill out by spring, spread by water and wind. Seed year occurs every 3-4 years. They begin to bear fruit from the age of 10 with free growth, at the age of 40 - in plantations. The germination of freshly harvested seeds is 40-70%, gradually decreases, but lasts 2-3 years. Gives abundant stump growth up to 80-90 years.

The wood is sapwood, almost white in a freshly felled tree, quickly acquires a light red tint in the air. Annual layers are clearly visible on all sections. Alder wood is used in carpentry, furniture and turning industries, in the manufacture of plywood, piles, well log cabins, supports for mines are made from it. The bark contains up to 16% tannins, gives black, red and yellow paints. The leaves have medicinal value. Natural range: Western Siberia, Crimea, Caucasus, Western Europe, Asia Minor, North Africa. Frost-resistant, medium shade-tolerant.

Forms forests on excessively moist fertile soils along streams and rivers over large areas. Under the best conditions of existence, an alder stand reaches here in 20 years almost 15 m in height and 11.5 cm in diameter.

In landscaping, black alder is widely used within its range on soils with a high level of groundwater, especially near ponds, lakes, rivers and streams. Garden forms that are vegetatively propagated are used in single plantings. On fertile soils, black alder forms a deep root system. It grows well on fertile soils with strong flowing moisture, as well as on sandy soils with deep groundwater. It does not grow on poor and dry soils.

Alder bearded (Alnusbarbata) - a tree reaching a height of up to 35 m, with an ovoid crown and a trunk up to 60 cm in diameter, covered with dark gray-brown bark. Shoots are fluffy, brown with light lenticels, buds on short legs, obovate, dark brown. The leaves are ovate or obovate with a pointed apex, 6-13 cm long, 4-9 cm wide, young leaves are fluffy on both sides, then glossy and dark green above, light green pubescent below with red beards of hairs in the corners of the veins, petioles hairy when young, 1.5-2 cm long. They bloom at the same time as the leaves bloom, anther catkins are collected 3-4 in the upper part of the shoot. Cones are oblong, 1.5-2 cm long, 0.6-0.8 cm wide, collected in racemes of 3-5 on long legs. Habitat: Caucasus (cid-Caucasus, Western and Eastern Transcaucasia), Asia Minor. In the lowlands on swampy and alluvial soils, it forms forests, rises to the mountains along rivers to a height of 2000 m above sea level, and often grows in the lower part of the mountains as part of beech, chestnut and hornbeam forests. This is the most common type of alder in the Caucasus. Its wood is similar in physical and mechanical properties to black alder wood and is widely used in the economy. The bark contains up to 16.5% tannins, gives black, red and yellow paints. Isabella vines are often planted using live alder as a support.

Alder gray or white (Alnusincana) - a tree up to 23 m in height, with a narrow ovoid crown and a trunk up to 50 cm in diameter. Lives up to 50-60 years. The bark is smooth, light gray. The leaves are ovate or oval-elliptical, 4-10 cm long, 3.5-7 cm wide, with a rounded or slightly heart-shaped base, young leaves are pubescent, adult leaves are almost bare above, gray-green pubescent below, densely pubescent along the veins , with 9-13 pairs of veins; petioles 1-2 cm long, soft felt. Blossoms before leafing out, 2-3 weeks earlier than black alder. Staminate catkins are located together in 3-5 pieces, sessile or on short legs. Cones of 8-10 pieces, elliptical, black-brown, about 1.5 cm long and 7-8 cm wide. Seed trees begin to bear fruit from 8-10 years old, coppice trees from 5-7 years old. Gives abundant root offspring and shoots from the stump. Fruiting annual, plentiful.

The wood differs from black alder wood in a more reddish hue, in terms of physical and mechanical properties it is inferior to black alder wood. Used in the same way as black alder wood. In the best growing conditions, gray alder at the age of 40 years gives up to 250 m 3 of wood from 1 ha. The bark contains a small amount of tannins, gives the paint. Forms a superficial root system, located mainly in the upper soil layer. Range: European part of Russia, Western Siberia, Caucasus, Western Europe, North America. In the Caucasus, it rises to a height of 2000 m above sea level. It occurs in floodplains along with willows and black alders.

It forms shrub thickets, usually on cutting areas, conflagrations and abandoned arable lands. It is not as demanding on soils as black alder, but rarely grows on poor dry sandy soils; better than black alder, grows on waterlogged soils. More photophilous and frost-resistant than black alder. Winter-hardy, relatively shade-tolerant. It is short-lived, as it is quickly replaced by other species, especially spruce. Improves the soil by forming soft humus from high-ash and nitrogen-containing foliage, enriches the soil with nitrogen.

wrinkled alder (Alnusrugosa) - tree up to 8 m tall. Sometimes this species is considered not as an independent, but as a variety of gray alder. Kidneys are naked, pubescent, on legs. Leaves elliptic or obovate, 5-10 cm long, glabrous or pubescent below along the veins, rarely completely pubescent. Cones of 4-10 pieces are collected in a brush, the upper ones are sessile, the lower ones are on short legs, ovoid, 1-1.5 cm in length. Natural range: North America. In St. Petersburg, it is quite stable.

Alder (Alnuskolaensis)- a small tree up to 8 m high with twisted knotty shoots. This species is sometimes regarded as a variety of gray alder. The bark on the trunk and old branches is yellowish, shiny, the leaves are on pubescent, reddish petioles, elliptical and oval-elliptical, obtuse at the top, serrated along the edge, dark green below, glabrous or sparsely pubescent along the veins. It grows on the Kola Peninsula, is found along river valleys, lake shores.

Alder fluffy (Alnushirsuta)- shrub or small tree, reaching 20 m in height and 50-60 cm in diameter, with rounded blunt blunt leaves, 4-7 cm long and 3-5.5 cm wide, rich green above, glossy, glaucous below, glabrous or along veins hairy, lateral veins 7-8 pairs. The bark is smooth, brick-brown. Shoots are gray with felt pubescence, become bare with age. It is distinguished by a significant difference in leaves in size, shape and color, even within the same tree. The wood properties are similar to black alder wood. Natural range: Western and Eastern Siberia, Primorye, Amur Region, Korea, China, Northern Japan. One of the most frost-resistant types of alder. It occurs along the edges and in the undergrowth of coniferous forests. It grows in floodplains of streams and rivers, in grassy swamps and near springs. In the conditions of St. Petersburg it turned out to be stable.

Alder red (Alnusrubra) - a beautiful, decorative tree with large leaves, reaching 20 m in height. The bark is light gray, almost without cracks. Shoots are brick-red, young shoots are pubescent. Kidneys on legs, red. Leaves ovate, 7-12 cm long, pointed, glossy above, grayish-green, glabrous below or with short rusty pubescence, with 12-15 pairs of veins, petioles and veins reddish or yellowish. Cones 6-8, ovoid, 1.5-2.5 cm long, on short reddish legs or sessile. Distribution: North America - from Alaska to California. Introduced into culture since 1884.

Alder alder (Alnuscremastogyne) - tree up to 40 m tall. Young pubescent shoots are brick-brown, with time the pubescence disappears. Kidneys on legs. Leaves narrowly obovate or elliptical, pointed at apex, 6-14 cm long, smooth dark green above, light green below, veins 9-12 pairs. Staminate and pistillate catkins are solitary in the axils of young leaves. Cones 1.5-2 cm long, on thin legs. Natural range: Western China. In St. Petersburg, it is not winter hardy enough. Introduced in England in 1907.

Wood

Alder wood is homogeneous in structure, growth rings and narrow core rays are hardly distinguishable on an untreated surface, but after processing and coating with transparent varnishes and stains, they become more visible to the naked eye, form a beautiful, interesting and highly decorative pattern, especially on tangential cuts. Annual rings are not always distinguishable, since late wood, although slightly darker than early wood, can be difficult to notice this difference. Rare false-wide medullary rays are clearly visible on all sections. The boundaries of the annual layers are slightly bent when they are crossed by a falsely wide core ray. The pores on the cells of the medullary rays are very small. Sometimes alder has a false core - a darker, dark brown or brick-brown color, the inner zone of wood. The most common defect in alder is the presence of brown or reddish-brown heart rot, which significantly reduces the quality of the resulting wood.

Alder is a scattered vascular non-nuclear breed. Its wood is white when freshly cut, but in the air it quickly acquires a color from orange-red to brick-brown. Alder wood is of low density, soft, light, dries out a little, almost does not crack during shrinkage, and is not resistant to decay. Easily processed with cutting and polishing tools, the surface is clean, smooth, slightly velvety. In water, alder wood exhibits high resistance, is moderately impregnated, stained and pickled.

The full swelling of alder wood practically does not correlate with the density of absolutely dry wood and the basic density of wood, but there is a tendency for swelling to increase with increasing density. In black alder, the dependence of tensile strength on density at a moisture content of 10.32% is strongly pronounced, and in gray alder, tensile strength weakly correlates with density at the time of testing. The tensile strength and impact strength of alder wood weakly correlate with density.

Vascular porosity is punctate. Fibrous tracheids are thin-walled, angular or rounded in cross-section, of different diameters, randomly distributed and connected in turn. Libriform fibers are typical, thick-walled, slightly compressed in the radial direction. In late wood, the libriform fibers are somewhat more compacted than in early wood. In addition to typical libriform fibers, living fibers are occasionally found, the walls of such libriform fibers are slightly thinner, the content of cells is alive - this is a supply of nutrients.

Usage

Table 2. Physical and mechanical properties of alder wood

Table 3. Average indicators of the main physical and mechanical
properties of alder wood (numerator - at a moisture content of 12%,
denominator - at humidity of 30% and above)

Table 4. Indicators of mechanical properties of alder wood,
related to 1 kg/m

Table 5. Approximate indicators of physical and mechanical
properties of alder bark

The most economically valuable species is black alder, since its range is larger than the ranges of other species of this genus. Gray alder, whose range is also wide, due to its biological qualities, rarely reaches sufficient size and often has a crooked trunk, which leads to insufficient yield of high-quality wood. It can grow as a straight tree with a voluminous trunk only under optimal conditions.

Alder wood is soft, light, cuts well, has good dimensional stability, and therefore is widely used for the manufacture of a variety of furniture, toys, turnery and small crafts. Alder wood is used to make veneer, plywood, chipboard, often in combination with other woods such as pine, spruce and beech; boxes and pallets are made from alder. Since alder wood is characterized by high resistance to moisture, it is used where interaction with water is unavoidable: in bridge building, housing construction, - it was previously used in the manufacture of piles and water pipes. Alder is often used as a fuel. Receive from an alder and charcoal which is used for drawing.

Alder wood is well impregnated with stains, therefore it is often used to imitate valuable wood species (cherry, mahogany, ebony) and restore furniture, interior decoration parts and other valuable wood items.

In the manufacture of the decks of various stringed musical instruments, the main material is resonant spruce wood, the stocks of which are limited. Therefore, the soundboards of musical instruments are often made of other materials, such as three-layer birch plywood, which drastically reduces the acoustic properties of such instruments. An analysis of the resonant and acoustic properties of wood of domestic species showed that black alder is the most suitable replacement for resonant spruce. Black alder has significantly fewer knots than resonant spruce, which increases wood yield. Black alder wood is characterized by physical, mechanical and acoustic properties close to those of resonant spruce wood and significantly exceeding the properties of three-layer birch plywood. It should be noted that the cost of soundboards from black alder wood is almost equal to the cost of producing soundboards from birch plywood and is much lower than the cost of soundboards from resonant spruce. This points to the prospect of using black alder wood in music production.

In official and folk medicine, infusions, decoctions and extracts of the bark, leaves and cones of alder are used as anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, hemostatic, wound healing, immunomodulatory drugs. Alder bark is used in tanning and dyeing leather. Black, yellow and red dyes are also obtained from the bark.

Alder is a highly ornamental species with glossy, rich green foliage that improves the soil, which is why various types of alder are widely used in landscaping.

It is necessary to take into account such a defect of alder as heart rot, which affects most of the trees by the age of 60, and not to allow overstaying of alder forests.

In view of the structural features and physical and mechanical properties of wood and biological characteristics, alder is a promising species for forest cultivation and the use of wood.

Elena Karpova
Anton Kuznetsov,
cand. biologist. Sciences, Assoc. cafe general ecology,
plant physiology
and Wood Science, St. Petersburg State Forest Technical University