Alnus oblongifolia

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

Overview

Vulnerable

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

Sandy or rocky stream banks and moist slopes , often in mountain canyons ; 1000--2300 m [3].

Biology

Reproduction

Duration: Perennial

Taxonomy

Synonyms

Acacia lebbekoides Dc. • Albizia lebbekioides< /i> (Dc.)benth. • Mimosa carisquis Blanco • Pithecellobium myriophyllum Gagnep.

Notes

Publishing author : Torr. Publication : Rep. U.S. Mex. Bound., Bot. [Emory] 204 1859

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)

More Info

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Further Reading

• American plants. .. [Descriptions, bibliographical notes, synonymy, and other information, comp. from many sources] Charles Russell Orcutt, editor. San Diego, Calif., [1907]-1910. url p. 67.
• Aquatic and wetland plants of southwestern United States, by Donovan S. Correll and Helen B. Correll. [Washington]Environmental Protection Agency; [For sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. Govt. Print. Off.]1972. url p. 782.
• Botany Cambridge, Mass., John Wilson and Son, 1880 url p. 483, p. 80.
• Botany. By W. H. Brewer, Sereno Watson, and Asa Gray. Boston, Little, Brown, 1880. url p. 483, p. 80.
• Botany. Cambridge, Mass.Welch, Bigelow, University Press, 1876-80. url p. 80.
• Bulletin. California Academy of Sciences. San Francisco. San Francisco url p. 351.
• Carnegie Institution of Washington publication. Washington, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1902- url p. 42.
• Check list of the forest trees of the United States: their names and ranges / by George B. Sudworth. Washington, D.C.: Dept. of Agriculture, Forestry Division, 1898. url p. 114, p. 49.
• Contributions from the United States National Herbarium 13 1909-1912 Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1890- url p. 162, p. 164, p. 168, p. 179, p. 468, p. VII.
• Flora of New Mexico / by E.O. Wooton and Paul C. Standley. Washington: G.P.O., 1915. url p. 164.
• Flora of New Mexico. By E.O. Wooton and Paul C. Standley. WashingtonGovt. Print. Off.1915 url p. 164.
• Flora of southern and Lower California: a check-list of the flowering plants and ferns / by Charles Russell Orcutt. San Diego, Calif.: [s.n.], 1885. url p. 10.
• Forestry research report. Urbana, Ill., Agricultural Experiment Station, Dept. of Forestry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. url .
• Garden and forest; a journal of horticulture, landscape art and forestry. New York: The Garden and forest publishing co., 1888-97. url p. 13, p. 22, p. 497.
• Identification of the economic woods of the United States, including a discussion of the structural and physical properties of wood, New York, John Wiley & sons, inc.; [etc., etc.]1919. url , p. 52.
• Manual of the trees of North America (exclusive of Mexico) by Charles Sprague Sargent, with seven hundred and eighty-three illustrations from drawings by Charles Edward Faxon and Mary W. Gill. Boston and New York, Houghton Mifflin company, 1922. url p. 225, p. 225, p. 899, p. 899.
• Native woody plants of the United States, their erosion-control and wildlife values. Washington, U. S. Govt. print. off., 1938. url , , p. 46.
• Naturalist's guide to the Americas, prepared by the Committee on the Preservation of Natural Conditions of the Ecological Society of America, with assistance from numerous organizations and individuals, assembled and edited by chairman, Baltimore, Williams & Wilkins, 1926. url p. 568, p. 568.
• North American fauna. Washington: Fish and Wildlife Service; for sale by the Supt. of Docs., U. S. Govt. Print. Off. url p. 35, p. 83.
• North American trees (exclusive of Mexico and tropical United States) A handbook designed for field use, with plates and distribution maps. Ames, Iowa State University Press[1961] url p. 157.
• North American trees: being descriptions and illustrations of the trees growing independently of cultivation in North America, north of Mexico and the West Indies / New York: H. Holt and Co., 1908. url .
• North American trees; being descriptions and illustrations of the trees growing independently of cultivation in North America, north of Mexico and the West Indies; with the assistance of John Adolph Shafer. New YorkHolt1908 url p. 260, p. 264.
• Practical forestry: a treatise on the propagation, planting, and cultivation, with a description, and the botanical and popular names of all the indigenous trees of the United States, both evergreen and deciduous, togeth New York: Orange Judd Co., 1914, c1884. url .
• Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Boston: Metcalf and Co., 1846-1958 url p. 25.
• Report on the forests of North America (exclusive of Mexico) / by Charles S. Sargent. Washington [D.C.]: G.P.O., 1884. url p. 163, p. 221, p. 582.
• Report upon United States Geographical surveys west of the one hundredth meridian, Washington, Govt. print. off., 1875-89. url .
• 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. 116.
• The Garden: an illustrated weekly journal of gardening in all its branches. London: [s.n., url .
• The Great Basin naturalist. 50 1990 Provo, Utah: M.L. Bean Life Science Museum, Brigham Young University, 1939-1999. url stromberg & patten, page 47.
• The Plant world. Baltimore [etc.]Plant World Association [etc.] url p. 297.
• The elements of forestry, designed to afford information concerning the planting and care of forest trees for ornament or profit and giving suggestions upon the creation and care of woodlands with the view of securing the grea Cincinnati, R. Clarke, 1882. url p. 233.
• The elements of forestry: designed to afford information concerning the planting and care of forest trees for ornament or profit and giving suggestions upon the creation and care of woodlands with the view of securing the grea Cincinnati: R. Clarke, 1882. url .
• 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, 1902 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. 77, p. 79, p. 80.
• The tree book: a popular guide to a knowledge of the trees of North America and to their uses and cultivation / by Julia Ellen Rogers. New York: Doubleday, Page, 1905. url .
• The trees of Great Britain & Ireland / by Henry John Elwes and Augustine Henry. Edinburgh: Priv. print., 1906-13. url p. 958.
• The vegetation of a desert mountain range as conditioned by climatic factors, Washington, D. C., Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1915. url .
• The woods of the United States. With an account of their structure, qualities, and uses. With geographical and other notes upon the trees which produce them. By C.S. Sargent. New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1885. url p. 156, p. 161, p. 165, p. 167, p. 175, p. 98.
• The woods of the United States: with an account of their structure, qualities and uses; with geographical and other notes upon the trees which produce them / by C.S. Sargent. New York: Appleton, 1885. url p. 156, p. 161, p. 165, p. 167, p. 175, p. 178, p. 98.
• Torreya. Burlington, Vt., Torrey Botanical Club, 1901-1945. url p. 261.
• Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences. New York: New York Academy of Sciences. url p. 238.
• Trees and shrubs of Mexico / By Paul C. Standley. Washington, Govt. Print. Off., 1920-1926. url p. 168.
• Zoe:a biological journal. 3 1893 San Diego, Calif. [etc.]Zoe Publishing Co. url p. 313, p. 345.
• 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 November 18, 2007:

• Comisión nacional para el conocimiento y uso de la biodiversidad, Herbario del Instituto de Ecología, A.C., México
• Missouri Botanical Garden, Missouri Botanical Garden
• School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Arizona State University Vascular Plant Herbarium
• School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, The Deaver Herbarium, Northern Arizona University
• USDA PLANTS, USDA PLANTS Database

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 2646009
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: Kew-6544
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 14250524
• Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:294968-1
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 19472
• International Plant Names Index (IPNI) ID: 294968-1
• Natural Heritage Network Species Identifier: PDBET01040
• U.S.D.A. Plant Symbol: ALOB2
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 19684

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]
3. "Alnus oblongifolia". in Flora of North America Vol. 3. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]

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