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B E T U L A Ainus.
Common Alder.
MONOECIA Tetrandria.
Gen. Char. Male, Cal. scale of a catkin, of 1
leaf, S-cleft, 3-flowered. Cor. 4-cleft.
Female, Cal. scale obscurely 3-cleft, 2 -flowered.
Styles 2. Seeds compressed.
Spec, Char. Flower-stalks branched. Leaves roundish,
somewhat wedge-shaped, waved, serrated, glutinous
; downy at the branching of the veins beneath,
Syn. Betula Alnus. Linn. Sp. PI. 1 3 9 4 , a. Sm. FI.
Brit. 1 0 1 3 . Huds. 4 1 6 . With. 2 0 6 . Hull. 210,
Relh. 3 7 4 . Sibth. 6 4 . Abbot. 2 0 7 .
Alnus. Rail Syn. 4 4 2 . Ger. em. 1 4 7 7 .
A VERY general tree in boggy grounds about lakes or rivulets,
throwing its broad arms and umbrageous foliage with
much picturesque effect over the still reedy pool, and supplying
the want of the oak in such parts of a landscape. It
blossoms in March, or early in April, but the leaves are not
fully displayed till the end of May, or some time in June.
The trunk is of a middling height and thickness, rugged,
crooked, and of slow growth. The v/ood is reddish, firm, but
brittle, used by turners, and especially to make clogs or pattens.
The bark dyes linen of a dull red, and with iron brown or
black. The branches are crooked, spreading, smooth; angular
and glutinous when young. Leaves alternate, on footstalks,
roundish, obtuse, often lopped at the end, waved,
serrated, plaited, glutinous, of a deep shining green, with
many parallel veins, which are downy at their base beneath.
Stipulae roundish, entire. Flower-stalks terminal, branched.
Male catkins long, pendulous, cylindrical, of numerous brown
scales, within each of which are 3 sessile greenish flowers.
Stamina 4, short. Female catkins small, oval* ascending,
reddish-brown, with entire scales. Stigmas red, linear, prominent.
Gone oval, rigid, permanent. Seeds angular, 2 to
each scale.
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