MOUNTAIN ALDER
alnus tenuifolia

UNIQUE FEATURES:

• small tree or coarse shrub, often occurring in clumps
• cparts of the stem is sometimes food for deer and hares

LOCATION:

• throughout BC, east of the Coast and Cascade mountains
• mid to subalpine elevations
• wet, nutrient rich areas such as lake, pond, swamp or stream edges

SIZE:

• 2 to 10 metres in height
• tree or shrub

FRUIT:

• seed cones on a short stalk; the seeds or nutlets have very narrow wings

FLOWERS:

• long (3 to 4 cm), drooping catkins (male)
• woody, brown, short cones (female)
• produced in the fall and stay on the tree until spring; see them before the leaves

LEAVES

• thin, oval-shaped
• rounded or blunt tip
• shallow, wavy lobed and double toothed
• green with a pale and hairy underside
• remain green through most of the fall like most alders

BARK:

• yellowish-brown

WOOD CHARACTERISTICS:

• very hard

USES:

• traditional - wood: bows, snowshoes, smoking and drying salmon and meat, eating utensil and dishes, source of dye and hide tanning substance; bark: dye, fish nets, medicine to stop bleeding