False alder, or simply alder , is a member of the birch family. Widespread in countries with temperate climates. People use it as a building material and as a medicine.
The homeland of this plant is North America. The tree can be mistaken for a birch, and they both have distinctive catkins. From Latin, the name of the tree sounds like Alnus, which if translated means “coastal”, loving moisture. What is so special about alder?
In our article, you will be familiarized in detail with the various features of alder, learn its places of growth, and its use in everyday life.
What does alder look like?
This tree has one distinctive detail - cone-shaped earrings. In spring, they are usually green, soft and similar to birch trees, but closer to winter they become hard and change color to brown.
The perennial trunk is covered with smooth, dark-colored bark. The plant has a highly developed rhizome. It is located quite close to the soil surface, so the perennial may be somewhat unstable in strong gusts of wind. Given this point, it is not recommended to plant alder under a residential window.
The leaves are oval in shape with jagged edges. Its surface is smooth, but wrinkles can be felt closer to the center. They are attached to small petioles and arranged in a regular order.
Description of the plant
First, it’s worth taking a closer look at what alder looks like. It is a tree with foliage. Depending on the species, the height varies. It can reach several tens of meters, but some specimens grow very short. Alder is part of the birch family. Thanks to its powerful root system, it quickly takes root in a new place with any type of soil.
The alternate foliage is dark green in color. The flowering period occurs during the first warmth of spring. Earrings appear on the branches, and a few days after that their length increases. The wind easily knocks pollen out of them, which then pollinates female flowers.
The fruits of the tree are miniature cones containing seeds. When the moment of their maturation comes, they come out into the air and are spread throughout the territory. This is how alder reproduces. This period begins when the plant is about ten years old. Many other different representatives of the flora can be grown near it, because alder does not particularly conflict with its neighbors. Both shrubs and trees are planted next to it.
The tree develops especially successfully near birch, linden and spruce. Various types of mushrooms often develop around it or directly on it.
Types of alder
Currently, scientists have identified about 29 species of this plant. But there are no exact values, since the plant tends to change, forming new hybrid species.
Black alder
This species grows in Western Asia and North Africa, and is also found in Europe. This tree can grow up to 35 m in height and can reach 90 cm in diameter. The branches of the tree are perpendicular, so the crown of the tree has a pyramidal shape.
The active vegetative process begins when the tree reaches 10 years of age. The lifespan of the plant can reach up to 100 years.
The tree has a well-developed branched rhizome. As a rule, it is located close to the soil surface.
- The foliage is rounded with small veins measuring about 7 cm.
- With the onset of spring, yellowish-brown catkins bloom on the branches.
- Their length can reach 8 cm, and their diameter reaches 2 cm.
Closer to the cold season, they change: they acquire a brown color and become hard and pine-like.
Red alder
This perennial attracts attention with its dark red color. Trees can grow up to 20 m in height. The bark is smooth, gray-brown in color. The bushes have dense foliage.
- The leaves are pointed, oblong in shape. They are usually a deep red color.
- Due to this, the shrub is distinguished by its decorative effect.
- Just like other species, alder has cones. They are small and measure about 2.5 cm.
Gray alder
The plant is distinguished by its vitality, as well as its ability to adapt to any conditions. It has a narrow, curved trunk. The bark has a heterogeneous structure, with protrusions and is sticky to the touch.
- In young trees, the vegetative process is quite active.
- The tree does not stop growing new, young shoots.
- The leaves of gray alder are smooth on the outside and fleecy on the inside.
- Their size usually reaches 10 cm. Earrings bloom before the leaves.
As a rule, this happens at the end of March, at the beginning of April.
Preparation and collection of cones
The most favorable time for harvesting cones is the end of autumn. However, you can continue collecting them until March. Directly collecting cones has certain features: first you need to carefully trim the ends of the branches with cones with pruners, and then collect the fruits from them. Cones lying on the ground do not have the required properties, so they cannot be used. After collecting, the cones are placed in an even layer in the attic or under a canopy, where there must be good air access. When it’s quite warm outside, you can dry the pine cones in the open air, remembering to stir them periodically. When properly dried, the fruits retain their medicinal properties for 3 years.
Use in folk medicine
All parts of the tree have medicinal properties. The cones begin to be harvested in late autumn, when they are fully ripe. They are cut and dried at room temperature.
When properly prepared, the fruits should have an astringent taste and be dark in color.
- Leaves begin to be harvested in early summer. They contain essential oils, tannins and organic acids. They are used as a hemostatic, diaphoretic and antimicrobial agent.
- A decoction of alder fruits is used for ailments of the gastrointestinal tract, allergies and rheumatism. The infusion helps with colitis and digestive disorders, for cleansing the skin and healing wounds.
Alder has proven itself well as an expectorant for bronchitis and tracheitis, antipyretic and diaphoretic for colds.
Preparations made from alder are usually safe for human health. Contraindications include individual intolerance, and an overdose can have a negative impact on health.
Spreading
The natural habitat of the tree is considered to be areas with moist soil. For this reason, places near water bodies are a priority for him. It can be found in completely different parts of the planet. This tree grows even in the Northern Hemisphere, Asia, South America and the northern European mountains.
In Russia, two varieties of alder are most often grown: gray and black. An eastern species of plant is found in the Transcaucasian regions. Green alder grows in the Siberian region.
Alder in construction
Wood can be used either independently or as an additional component in the manufacture of particle boards and plywood. Each type of alder has individual characteristics. Thanks to this, it can be used in various fields.
The advantages of building materials made from this type of wood include:
- Good resistance to high temperatures.
- Environmentally friendly.
- Moisture-absorbing properties.
- Condensation does not accumulate on the surface of the wood.
- Low thermal conductivity.
Alder is often chosen as a building material for making saunas. The wood burns well, but at the same time does not smoke much. When wood smolders, a pleasant aroma spreads.
Building materials made from alder are distinguished by their lightness, strength and availability, as well as their resistance to various deformations. Therefore, the material is often used for the manufacture of wells and in the construction of ships. Alder is often used in the woodworking and furniture industries.
Black alder is used in furniture production and various carpentry works.
This type is distinguished by its original wood pattern. Due to this, black alder is often used as a decorative material in the production of various interior items and finishing elements of cabinet furniture.
Red alder is used in the manufacture of musical instruments. Alder is often used to make window frames and doors. Its wood has antiseptic and antibactericidal properties and is absolutely safe for children.
When burned, gray alder wood emits a pleasant and unique aroma, which is why it is used to light fires.
Scope of use
Alder is highly valued not only because of its beautiful appearance, since it has many other useful qualities.
In decorative arts
Alder, which is grown from young seedlings, grows very quickly, often leading to the growth of wild thickets. At this stage of its life cycle it has a uniform wood structure and is easy to work with. Therefore, it is often used in industry.
Alder is one of the most common materials for creating artistic carvings It is used for the production of carved dishes, sculptures and decorative panels. After processing the wood using dry distillation, coals are obtained that are highly valued by artists. Specimens whose trunks are decorated with beads are of great importance in decorative art.
In folk treatment
This plant is also valued as a remedy for treating many diseases. The bark, leaves and cones enriched with tannins have beneficial properties. Tinctures and decoctions are considered effective healing agents , as they have anti-inflammatory, astringent, hemostatic, antibacterial and disinfectant properties.
- to combat eczema and diathesis, use a decoction of flowers, which must be prepared at the beginning of flowering;
- an alcohol infusion of earrings can help people suffering from constipation and hemorrhoids;
- if there is a purulent wound, then you need to apply black alder leaves to it, and it will heal quite quickly.
After a course of antibiotics, you can restore the natural intestinal microflora using a decoction of cones. This remedy will also help cope with diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. It is often used for conditions such as:
- cold;
- inflammation of the throat and nasopharynx;
- pharyngitis;
- angina.
To stop nosebleeds , it is necessary to keep tampons made from fresh leaves in the sinuses. Traditional healers advise using a decoction to combat joint pain, arthritis and gout.
Alder in medicine drawing
Dry baths are an effective remedy ; they are made using fresh leaves.
- they must be heated in an oven or in the sun, and then the leaves are laid out on a bed and the sick person is placed on them. You can also cover the affected parts of the body with heated leaves, and wrap yourself in a warm blanket on top. In this case, the result will be maximum when this procedure lasts at least an hour;
- This remedy will work even better when the leaves are heated in a deep tub, where the patient must then be seated up to the neck. Using the same scheme, you can fight diseases with the help of birch leaves.
When visiting the bathhouse, it is quite useful to use alder brooms , which have a tonic, disinfectant, cleansing effect, filling the body with energy.
In industry
The ease of processing wood has led to its frequent use in industry. Various operations can be performed on this wood, including staining, varnishing and polishing. Also, this wood maintains the integrity of the structure when screws are screwed into it. Changes can occur when hammering nails, this is reflected in the delamination of wood.
Drying alder will not affect its properties in any way: it does not last long, and during this operation no defects in the form of cracks or warping appear. This property has made alder the most popular material for the production of musical instruments.
Use of alder in industry
Photo Alder tree
Agricultural technology
For planting, an alder seedling can be found in the forest, or purchased at a tree nursery. Planting a seedling is not much different from planting seedlings of fruit and other trees. You will need a hole with a depth and width greater than the size of the roots with a root ball of soil, with water poured into it; 1 bucket per hole is enough. No special fertilizers are required; its roots are able to independently produce nitrogen and enrich the soil. Actually, nitrogen is produced not by the roots, but by the tubers, which contain bacteria - they draw nitrogen from the air into the soil. But nitrogen alone is not enough for the tree; 200 grams of slaked lime and 15 grams of Kemira-universal fertilizer are added to the hole.
A seedling installed in a hole is first sprinkled with soil removed from the top, fertile layer, and then with a mixture of peat, sand and earth, and then watered again. It is better to plant in spring, as well as in autumn, without leaves. The stems of the seedling are cut to a height of 50-70 cm - before planting, or immediately after it, so it will not waste energy on developing the above-ground part, and will begin to strengthen the root system.
When planting in spring, the seedling is often watered for the first time, of course, if it is not growing in a wetland. With age, the tree grows stronger, the root system becomes more extensive, and provides the tree with moisture without additional watering.
Loosening the soil at the roots can be called a mandatory measure; without it, the soil will become too hard and dense, the roots will not be able to fully breathe.
Alder wood standards according to GOST
The grade of alder wood already in the process of harvesting is determined by several parameters. This is the smoothness of the trunk, the number of knots and certain malformations, the most important of which include cracks and curvature of the trunk.
The grade of harvested alder wood largely depends on where the harvested tree grows and whether all conditions for standard wood processing are met during the manufacturing of lumber from it.
The price of alder wood and lumber made from it is estimated by experts at 4 points. The cost of this wood makes it possible to obtain cost-effective products from it that are used in various spheres of human life.
Harvesting, drying and medicinal properties of alder:
Protection
Alder, as a tree growing in a humid environment, is often affected by fungal diseases. Earrings, whose scales grow unnaturally, are especially affected. Some fungi cause spots on the leaves - they wrinkle and fall off.
Among the pests, alder is afraid of the corrosive woodworm, which lays its larvae under the bark. As a result, the larvae spoil both the young shoots and the bark itself.
To protect alder, it is treated with fungicides, poisons, or folk remedies. Affected branches are cut off and burned.
Properties
Alder cones are rich in the following active substances: tannins (gallic acid, tannin, alkaloids, glycosides, hyperosides, flavonoids, quercitrin), acids (caffeic, protocatechinic and chlorogenic) and triterpenoids.
Alder roots have tubers that bring great benefits to nature. They contain nitrogen-fixing microorganisms that perfectly enrich the soil with nitrogen.
The leaves contain flavone glycosides (quercitrin and hyperoside), caffeic, protocatechinic and chlorogenic acids.
The bark contains triterpenoids and tannins.
Growing conditions
This is a moisture-loving tree, and therefore it grows in the valleys of streams and rivers, in the undergrowth of damp forests, in grassy bogs and swamps, along the shores of lakes and other bodies of water. It often grows on abandoned arable land, forming rather dense thickets.
Like birch, alder most often settles where there are clearings of spruce forest. Often its thickets form an edge along the edges of spruce forests. Gray alder loves damp places. Alder forests often present swamps with islands of trees surrounded by swamps.
It should be noted that, in addition to gray alder, there is also sticky or black alder, which occupies even more humid areas of the territory. Downy alder is common in the Far East and Siberia, and in the same places where gray alder grows.
Infusions
Let's present several ways to prepare infusions and decoctions. According to one of them, it is prepared at the rate of 4 grams of cones per one glass of boiling water. The infusion should be taken a quarter glass up to 4 times a day.
According to another recipe, you need to pour 15 grams of buds with a glass of boiling water, then boil for 15 minutes and strain. You need to consume a tablespoon 3 times a day. Sometimes an infusion of alder bark prepared in the same way is used.
In the production of pharmaceuticals, a dry extract is prepared from alder fruits (thmelini), which is used as a good remedy for the treatment of dysentery.
Reproduction
Alder is propagated by root cuttings and also by seeds. It should be noted that in nature, alder spreads without any problems thanks to well-adapted seeds.
Alder is a monoecious plant; male catkins and female cones grow on the same branch. The catkin inflorescences produce pollen, which is carried by insects and wind to pollinate the buds.
The cones remain overwintered on the branches and open the following spring, releasing small seeds. They are carried by the wind or flood waters. It is unknown where the seeds will land on the shore, and where they will catch on and germinate; this often happens several kilometers from the parent tree.
In culture, alder cones are collected in the fall to collect seeds, dried and waited for them to open. Then the seeds are selected, sifting all the material through a sieve with holes no larger than 4-5 mm.
Seeds are sown in containers or in open ground, but sometimes stored until spring, kept in a room with a temperature of 1 to 5 degrees Celsius and air humidity not higher than 10-12%. Under such conditions, the seeds will be viable for 1-2 years. With autumn sowing, seedlings appear in the spring, with spring sowing, also in the spring, but a year later.
Root cuttings for planting in a new place are dug up, cut to a height of 50-70 cm, and planted in a previously prepared hole (how to do this is written above); within a season, shoots up to 1 meter high will grow from the cut stem.
Chemical components
Alder wood, like most of the hardwood group, consists of organic substances and mineral compounds. Alder wood also contains unique tannins, referred to as polyphenols. After cutting down a tree, these polyphenols upon contact with air are oxidized and converted into phlobaphenes.
It is the phlobaphenes that determine the changing color of the tree from white to reddish. Phlobafens also give wood high resistance and strength in water. Alder wood is also rich in tannins; these compounds, when reacting with certain chemical reactions with heavy metal salts in water, form unique compounds that increase the strength of the wood.
Due to these elements and properties formed after cutting the trunk, alder wood is little subject to rotting under conditions of use in an aquatic environment and is resistant to the activity of many pathogenic microorganisms for plants.
