COMMON ALDER
Alnus Glutinosa

The common alder is a small tree that grows near water. The roots contain bacteria that ‘fix’ nitrogen from the air enriching the soil and the young leaves are somewhat sticky giving the tree its name ‘glutinosa’. Only alder has buds set on short stalks from the twigs. All other trees have their buds set down onto the twigs. It is the only broadleaved tree to bear cones.

Some uses:
· UNDERWATER CONSTRUCTION. Preservative chemicals make it almost indestructible under water. Venice was built on Italian alder piles and it is used widely in Holland and France for foundation work.
· CANAL LOCK GATES.
· DYES. Different parts of the tree yield different dyes. The green from the flowers is associated with the woodland clothes worn by faeries, foresters and even perhaps Robin Hood and his men. Face and body paint of bygone soldiers may have been a red dye from the bark.

The wood when cut takes on a blood-orange tinge as if bleeding which caused the tree to be both revered and feared in ancient times. It was recommended by Culpeper for the relief of burns and inflammation and beds of leaves supposedly gave relief from rheumatism. The young sticky leaves were brought into the home to trap fleas and then burnt.

The Druids considered alder sacred and sculpted alder whistles to summon the wind. Strongly associated with fire, an alder when felled forewarned a fire. In ancient Greece, the god Chronos was represented by an alder tree. From his story comes the word Fearinus: ‘of the dawn of the year’, probably the source of its Ogham (old Celtic alphabet system) name ‘Fearn’.

Importantly, the alder was the sacred tree of the much-loved Welsh pagan God ‘Bran’, a giant referred to as the ‘Crowned King’ in the Mabinogion. It is also associated with legends concerning the Rollright Stones in Oxfordshire.