Alnus nitida

• Interesting Facts
• Common Names
• Description
• Biology
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Interesting Facts

Common Names

Description

Family Betulaceae

Trees or shrubs deciduous, monoecious. Stipules present, free , often deciduous, rarely persistent . Leaves alternate, simple , petiolate , usually doubly serrate, rarely simply serrate, lobulate , or entire; veins pinnate. Flowers unisexual . Male inflorescence precocious , elongate , pendulous, with numerous overlapping bracts; each bract usually subtending a small dichasium with 1-3 male flowers; stamens as many as and opposite sepals or, if sepals obsolete , then stamens of inflorescence to 20; filaments very short, connate or nearly so; anthers 2-loculed, thecae connate or separate, opening by longitudinal slits. Female inflorescence pendulous or erect , with numerous overlapping bracts; each bract subtending a small dichasium with 2 or 3 flowers; calyx with 1-6 scalelike lobes , or obsolete; petals absent; ovary inferior, 2-loculed; styles 2, free; ovules 2, or 1 by abortion , pendulous from near apex of each locule. Fruit a nut or nutlet , winged or not. Seed 1, with straight embryo and flat or thickened cotyledons, without endosperm.

Six genera and 150-200 species: mainly in Asia, Europe, and North and South America; six genera (one endemic) and 89 species (56 endemic) in China.

Because of evolutionary divergence within the Betulaceae, the family has often been divided into tribes (i.e. , Betuleae, Carpineae, and Coryleae) or more recently into subfamilies (J. J. Furlow, J. Arnold Arbor . 71: 1-67. 1990) .[1]

Genus Alnus

Trees or shrubs , to 35 m ; trunks usually several, branching excurrent to deliquescent. Bark of trunks and branches light gray to dark brown, thin, smooth , close; lenticels often present, pale , prominent , sometimes horizontally expanded. Wood nearly white, turning reddish upon exposure to air , moderately light and soft, texture fine. Branches, branchlets , and twigs nearly 2-ranked to diffuse ; young twigs uniform or ( Alnus subg. Alnobetula ) differentiated into long and short shoots . Winter buds stipitate (nearly sessile in Alnus subg. Alnobetula ), narrowly to broadly ovoid or ellipsoid , terete , apex acute to rounded ; scales 2--3, valvate , or ( Alnus subg. Alnobetula ) several, imbricate, smooth, or ( Alnus subg. Clethropsis ) sometimes none. Leaves borne on long or short shoots, 3-ranked to nearly 2-ranked. Leaf blade ovate to elliptic or obovate , thin to leathery, base variable, cuneate to rounded, margins doubly serrate, serrate, serrulate , or nearly entire, apex variable, acute to obtuse or acuminate to rounded; surfaces glabrous to tomentose , abaxially sometimes resinous-glandular. Inflorescences: staminate catkins lateral , in racemose clusters or ( Alnus subg. Clethropsis ) solitary, formed ( Alnus subg. Alnus and Clethropsis ) during previous growing season and exposed or enclosed in buds during winter, or ( Alnus subg. Clethropsis ) formed and expanding during same growing season, expanding before or with leaves; pistillate catkins proximal to staminate catkins, solitary or in relatively small racemose clusters, erect to nearly pendulous, ovoid to ellipsoid, firm; scales and flowers crowded, developing and maturing at same time as staminate catkins. Staminate flowers in catkins, 3 per scale; stamens (3--) 4(--6) ; anthers and filaments undivided. Pistillate flowers usually 2 per scale. Infructescences erect or pendulous; scales persistent long after release of fruits, with 5 lobes , greatly thickened, woody. Fruits tiny samaras, lateral wings 2, leathery or membranaceous , reduced or essentially absent in some species. x = 7.

Species ca. 25 (8 sp: forested temperate and boreal Northern Hemisphere; North America; Asia.

Alders resemble birches but are easily distinguished from them by the infructescences, which consist of persistent , 5-lobed, woody scales (versus deciduous, 3-lobed, thin scales). Except in members of Alnus subg. Alnobetula Petermann (which have nearly sessile buds with several imbricate scales), alders are also distinctive in their stipitate buds bearing two stipular scales. The fruits, borne two to a scale, are laterally winged , although the wings are sometimes reduced or absent.

The genus is diverse , including several very distinct lines of specialization. The shrubby or arborescent Alnus subg. Alnus is characterized by winter buds with long stalks and two valvate scales, inflorescences borne in racemose clusters, and development of both pistillate and staminate inflorescences during the growing season prior to anthesis , with these fully exposed during winter. It includes the common A. rubra, A. incana, A. oblongifolia, and A. serrulata. Alnus subg. Alnobetula (represented in North America by three subspecies of A. viridis ) consists of shrubby species of cold-climate regions. In this group, the buds are nearly sessile and covered by several imbricate scales. Both staminate and pistillate catkins are formed the season before anthesis, but only the staminate ones are exposed during winter. The predominantly Asian Alnus subg. Clethropsis (Spach) Regel is represented in America by a single species, A. maritima, a small tree or large shrub of stream banks, marshes, and the shores of shallow lakes . Members of this group are unique in that they bloom in autumn rather than spring . They also differ from other native species in Alnus in having essentially naked buds, leaves with semicraspedodromous venation (i.e. , with the secondary veins branching and anastomosing with each other near the margin before reaching the teeth), and solitary pistillate inflorescences borne in the axils of foliage leaves. All of the alders associate symbiotically with species of the actinomycete Frankia, leading to the formation of nodules on the roots of the plants and the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen.[2]

Physical Description

Habitat

Biome: Terrestrial

Biology

Growth

Culture: Space over 40' apart.

Soil: Minimum pH: 5.1 • Maximum pH: 7.8

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full sun .

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 8a, 8b, 9a, 9b, 10a, 10b, 11. (map)

Taxonomy

Synonyms

Clethropsis Nitida

Notes

Publishing author : Endl. Publication : Gen. Pl. [Endlicher] Suppl. 4(2): 20 1848 [Aug-Oct 1848]

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Last scrutiny: 11-Nov-2003

Similar Species

Members of the genus Alnus

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 28 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

A. acuminata (Alder) · A. acuminata glabrata (Mexican Alder) · A. cordata (Italian Alder) · A. fallacina (Alder) · A. glutinosa (Black Alder) · A. glutinosa glutinosa (European Black Alder) · A. glutinosa 'Imperialis' (Black Alder) · A. glutinosa 'Pyramidalis' (Black Alder) · A. hirsuta (Manchurian Alder) · A. incana (Gray Alder) · A. incana incana (Speckled Alder) · A. incana rugosa (Gray Alder) · A. incana tenuifolia (Gray Alder) · A. japonica (Japanese Alder) · A. maritima (Seaside Alder) · A. nepalensis (Indian Alder) · A. nitida (West Himalayan Alder) · A. oblongifolia (Arizona Alder) · A. rhombifolia (Alder) · A. rubra (Oregon Alder) · A. rubra f. pinnatisecta (Oregon Alder) · A. serrulata (Alder) · A. viridis (Green Alder) · A. viridis crispa (Green Alder) · A. viridis fruticosa (Green Alder) · A. viridis sinuata (Green Alder) · A. viridis viridis (European Green Alder) · A. x fallacina (Alder)

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Further Reading

• A descriptive catalogue of useful fiber plants of the world: including the structural and economic classifications of fibers / by Charles Richards Dodge. Washington, Govt. print. off., 1897. url p. 296, p. 54.
• A manual of Indian timbers: an account of the structure, growth, distribution, and qualities of Indian woods. CalcuttaOffice of the Superintendent of Govt. Printing1881 url p. 373.
• Bulletin of entomological research. Farnham Royal: Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux. url p. 367, p. 452.
• Coleoptera. Rhynchophora:-Curculionidæ, / by Guy A. K. Marshall. London, Taylor and Francis; [etc., etc.]1916. url p. 287.
• Cyclopedia of farm crops, New York, The Macmillan company, 1922. url p. 629.
• Cyclopedia of farm crops: a popular survey of crops and crop-making methods in the United States and Canada / edited by L.H. Bailey. New York: Macmillan, 1922, c1907. url p. 629.
• Experiment station record. Washington: G.P.O., 1889-1946. url p. 365.
• Hooker, J. D. & T. Thomson Flora indica: being a systematic account of the plants of British India, together with observations on the structure and affinities of their natural orders and genera /by J.D. Hooker and Thomas Thomson. 1855 London: W. Pamplin, 1855. url p. 212.
• Indian trees: an account of trees, shrubs, woody climbers, bamboos, and palms indigenous or commonly cultivated in the British Indian empire / London: A. Constable, 1906. url p. 623.
• Phytologia. Bronx Park, New York, H.A. Gleason and H.N. Moldenke, url p. 55.
• Plantae Wilsonianae; an enumeration of the woody plants collected in western China for the Arnold arboretum of Harvard university during the years 1907, 1908, and 1910, by E. H. Wilson, ed. by Charles Sprague Sargent. Cambridge, University Press, 1913-17. url p. 501, p. 583, p. 629.
• Plants of the Punjab: a descriptive key to the flora of the Punjab, North-west Frontier Province, and Kashmir / by C.J. Bamber. Lahore: Supt. Govt. Printing, Punjab, 1916. url p. 18.
• Plants of the Punjab; a descriptive key to the flora of the Punjab, North-west Frontier Province and Kashmir. LahorePrinted by The Superintendent Government Printing1916 url p. 18.
• Report of the proceedings of the third entomological meeting: held at Pusa on the 3rd to 15th February 1919 / edited by T. Bainbrigge Fletcher. Calcutta: Supt. of Government Printing, 1920. url p. 190.
• Report of the proceedings of the. .. Entomological meeting Calcutta;Superintendent government printing, India, 1917-24. url p. 566.
• Sargent, C. S. Plantae Wilsonianae: an enumeration of the woody plants collected in western China for the Arnold arboretum of Harvard university during the years 1907, 1908, and 1910 /by E. H. Wilson, ed. by Charles Sprague Sargent. 2 1916 Cambridge: The University press, 1913-17. url p. 491, p. 501, p. 502, p. 513, p. 583, p. 629.
• Select extra-tropical plants readily eligible for industrial culture or naturalisation with indications of their native countries and some of their uses / by Baron Ferd. von Mueller. Melbourne: R. S. Brain, govt. printer, 1895. url p. 33.
• Select extra-tropical plants, readily eligible for industrial culture or naturalisation, with indications of their native countries and some of their uses. By Baron Ferd. von Mueller. .. Sydney, T. Richards, government printer, 1881. url p. 21.
• Smithsonian miscellaneous collections. 152 1968 Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1862-1968. url p. 162, p. 35.
• The Annals and magazine of natural history; zoology, botany, and geology being a continuation of the Annals combined with Loudon and Charlesworth's Magazine of Natural History. London, Taylor and Francis, Ltd. url p. 296, p. 302.
• The Bradley bibliography; a guide to the literature of the woody plants of the world published before the beginning of the twentieth century; Cambridge, Riverside Press, 1911-18. url p. 117.
• The Garden: an illustrated weekly journal of gardening in all its branches. London: [s.n., url p. 164, p. 193, p. 603.
• The Gardeners' chronicle: a weekly illustrated journal of horticulture and allied subjects. London: [Gardeners Chronicle], 1874-1955. url p. 282, p. 365.
• The Great Basin naturalist. 49 1989 Provo, Utah: M.L. Bean Life Science Museum, Brigham Young University, 1939-1999. url p. 181.
• The Review of applied entomology. Farnham Royal, Eng., etc.: Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, etc. url p. 403, p. 558.
• The forest flora of north-west and central India: a handbook of the indigenous trees and shrubs of those countries / Commenced by by J. Lindsay Stewart. Continued and completed by Dietrich Brandis. Prepared at the herbarium of the Royal gardens, Kew. LondonW.H. Allen1874 url p. 460.
• The identification of trees & shrubs; how to recognize, without previous knowledge of botany, wild or garden trees and shrubs native to the north temperate zone, with 2, 500 diagrams made by the author. New York, Dutton[1937] url p. 272.
• The silva of North America a description of the tree which grow naturally in North America exclusive of Mexico / by Charles Sprague Sargent; illustrated with figures and analyses drawn from nature by Charles Edward Faxon. Boston;Houghton, Mifflin, 1894 url .
• The silva of North America: a description of the trees which grow naturally in North America exclusive of Mexico /by Charles Sprague Sargent. .. illustrated with figures and analyses drawn from nature by Charles Edward Faxon. .. 14 1902 Boston, New York: Houghton, Mifflin and company, 1891-1902. url p. 111, p. 185, p. 70.
• The standard cyclopedia of horticulture; a discussion, for the amateur, and the professional and commercial grower, of the kinds, characteristics and methods of cultivation of the species of plants grown in the regions of the United States a by L. H. Bailey; illustrated with colored plates, four thousand engravings in the text, and ninety-six full-page cuts. . New York, The Macmillan Co.; [etc., etc.]1916-1917 [v.5 1916] url p. 253.
• The trees of Great Britain & Ireland / by Henry John Elwes and Augustine Henry. Edinburgh: Priv. print., 1906-13. url , p. 1949, p. 936, p. 954.
• Trees & shrubs for English gardens. [London]"Country life", 1908. url p. 86.
• Trees and shrubs hardy in the British Isles / by W. J. Bean. London: J. Murray, 1916. url p. 178, p. 181, p. 183.
• Trees and shrubs, hardy in the British isles. LondonJ. Murray1914 url p. 178.
• Li Pei-chun & Cheng Sze-hsu. 1979. Betulaceae. In: Kuang Ko-zen & Li Pei-chun, eds., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 21: 44-137.
• Furlow, J. J. 1979. The systematics of the American species of Alnus (Betulaceae). Rhodora 81: 1--121, 151--248.
• Hylander, N. 1957. On cut-leaved and small-leaved forms of Alnus glutinosa and A. incana. Svensk Bot. Tidskr. 51: 437--453.
• Murai, S. 1964. Phytotaxonomical and geobotanical studies on gen. Alnus in Japan (III). Taxonomy of whole world species and distribution of each sect. Bull. Gov. Forest Exp. Sta. 171: 1--107.
• Trappe, J. M., J. F. Franklin, R. F. Tarrant, and G. M. Hansen, eds. 1968. Biology of Alder.... Portland.

Notes

Contributors

• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 10, 2012.

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal March 05, 2008:

• US National Plant Germplasm System: United States National Plant Germplasm System Collection

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 5821834
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: Kew-6538
• Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:294962-1
• GRIN Nomen Number: 2473
• International Plant Names Index (IPNI) ID: 294962-1
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 1206049

Footnotes

1. Pei-chun Li & Alexei K. Skvortsov "Betulaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 4 Page 286. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
2. "Alnus". in Flora of North America Vol. 3. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]

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