PLATE IV
THE ALDER
The Alder tree (1) is a cousin of the Birch and the Hazel, and like them its flowers and seeds are borne in catkins. It is usually to be found growing by the side of a slow-running stream, over which its slender branches bend gracefully, while its spreading roots cling to the boggy soil at the water’s edge. For the Alder does not thrive in dry ground: it is a water-loving tree, and its many tiny roots attract moisture, and suck it up greedily; so that the ground where the Alder grows is often a marshy swamp.
Sometimes you will find an Alder which has grown into a lofty tree with a rough brown-black bark, and with many large branches; but it is much more frequently found as a low-growing and rather gloomy bush, about the same size as the Hazel.
The wood of the Alder is much sought after for buildings which stand in water. In Venice one of the most famous bridges, the Rialto, is built on piles, or great posts of Alder driven deep into the bed of the canal: and one reads in old history books that boats were first made of the trunks of the Alder tree. But it is of no use for fences or gate posts, as it decays quickly in dry soil.