Description
Red alder, Alnus rubra, in a one-gallon pot.
Deciduous shrub or tree, up to 25 m tall; axillary buds with stalks; bark scaly, often lichen-covered, yellowish-brown or grey-splotched with white.
Leaves: Alternate, deciduous, smooth, coarsely to irregularly toothed, the teeth pointing outwards, leaf margins rolled under, brownish in the fall.
Flowers: Inflorescence of male and female catkins which open before the leaves enlarge; male catkins with stalks.
Fruits: Small nutlets, with narrow-winged margins; female cones 1.5-2.5 cm long, egg-shaped.
Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
