UW Burke Herbarium species comparison

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Alnus glutinosa

Alnus incana

Black alder, European alder

mountain alder
Habit Multi-trunked trees to 20 meters tall. Monoecious, deciduous shrubs 2 to 10 m. tall, the bark grayish-brown to reddish, the new growth usually downy-puberulent.
Leaves

Blades obovate to nearly orbiculate, 3--9 × 3--8 cm, margins often irregularly doubly serrate to nearly dentate, apex often retuse or obcordate, occasionally rounded; upper and lower surfaces heavily resin-coated.

: Leaves alternate, simple, the blades broadly elliptic to ovate-oblong, 3-7 cm. long, rounded at the base and usually obtuse at the tip, the margins wavy and denticulate, the upper surface green, often glabrous, the lower surface pale, usually pubescent.
Flowers

Catkins developing before the leaves on growth of the previous season; staminate catkins clustered, pendulous, 3-10 cm. long, the flowers consisting of 4 subsessile anthers; pistillate catkins cone-like, ellipsoid-ovoid, 9-13 mm. long, the peduncles stout, short.
Fruits

Nutlet thin-margined but without a true wing.

Alnus glutinosa

Alnus incana
Flowering time March-May March-May
Habitat Wetlands at low elevation. Moist places, streamsides, and avalanche chutes from low to middle elevations.
Distribution
Occurring west of the Cascades crest in King County, where escaping from a wetland restoration planting. Great Lakes region east to the Atlantic Coast.
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Occurring chiefly east of the Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska to California, east to the Rocky Mountains, northern Great Plains, and eastern North America,
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Origin Introduced from Europe Native
Conservation status Not of concern Not of concern
Sibling taxa
A. incana, A. rhombifolia, A. rubra, A. viridis
A. glutinosa, A. rhombifolia, A. rubra, A. viridis
Subordinate taxa
A. incana ssp. tenuifolia
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the University of Washington's Burke Herbarium.



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Choose a data source: Flora of North America, OregonFlora, UW Burke Herbarium

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