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| ## speckled alder {#speckled-alder .Title-Header}                     |
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| *Alnus incana* (L.) Moench ssp. *rugosa* (Du Roi) Clausen             |
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| Plant Symbol = ALINR                                                  |
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####### *Contributed By: USDA NRCS National Plant Data Center and the Biota of North America Program*

**Alternate Names**

Tag alder, gray alder, hoary alder, hazel alder, swamp alder; *Alnus
rugosa* (Du Rois) Spreng.; *Alnus americana* (Regel) Czerp.

**Uses**

Speckled alder is used locally for fuel but the wood has no commercial
value. Because root nodules of alders support nitrogen-fixing bacteria,
yields of timber-producing trees can be enhanced when grown in
association with alder, in the same way that leguminous crops increase
production in agricultural crops. The nitrogen-enhancing effect is local
and restricted to trees in the immediate vicinity of the alder. Rapid
growth in open habitats, wide tolerance to soil types, and potential for
soil conditioning make it useful in rehabilitation of disturbed sites,
including old mines.

Alders are beautiful and functional plants and deserve to be more widely
grown in gardens and nurseries. They are fast growing and can easily be
trained to a tree-like form by removing lower branches.

*Wildlife*: Speckled alder thickets provide cover for moose,
white-tailed deer, rabbits, and others. Moose, muskrats, beavers, and
rabbits browse the twigs and foliage. Songbirds, including redpolls,
goldfinches, woodcock, and grouse eat the seeds, buds, and catkins.
Beavers build dams and lodges with speckled
alder.![](media/image2.png){width="2.6979166666666665in"
height="3.5145833333333334in"}

*Ethnobotanic*: Native Americans used speckled alder to treat anemia, as
an emetic, a compress or wash for sore eyes, and a diaphoretic, for
internal bleeding, urinary problems, sprains, bruises or backaches,
itches, flux, and piles, to cure saddle gall in horses. When mixed with
powdered bumblebees, it was used as an aid for difficult labor. Tea was
made from alder to cure diarrhea and toothaches. Other bark mixtures
were applied to rashes, eyes, and swelling. Chippewa Indians mixed alder
root scraping with grounded up bumblebee and fed the mixture to women
whom were having difficulty during childbirth.

*Erosion Control*: Speckled alder's acceptance of a wide variety of soil
types makes it a good choice for disturbed site rehabilitation. This is
a valuable species to plant along stream banks for erosion control.

**Status**

Please consult the PLANTS Web site and your State Department of Natural
Resources for this plant's current status, such as state noxious status
and wetland indicator values.

**Description**

*General*: Birch Family (Betulaceae). Native shrubs and (less commonly)
small trees growing to 10 m tall, thicket-forming, with open crowns. The
bark is gray, reddish, or brown, thin and smooth, becoming broken into
irregular plates, often with conspicuous whitish lenticels (spongy
openings for gas exchange). Leaves are elliptic to ovate, 4-11 cm long,
3-8 cm wide, broadest near or below middle, doubly and irregularly
toothed, with 9-12 nearly straight, parallel veins on each side, with a
ladder-like network of depressed veins, dull dark green above. Male
(pollen, staminate) and female (seed, pistillate) flowers are in
catkins, borne separately, but on the same tree (the species
monoecious). The seed catkins are cone-like, cylindric to ovoid, 1-2 cm
long, erect, sessile or on a short, stout stalk, generally remaining
intact after release of fruits in spring. The pollen catkins are
elongate, 2-7 cm long, in hanging clusters from near the shoot tip. The
common name (speckled) is in reference to the numerous lenticels
covering the bark.

*Variation within the species:* Speckled alder is similar in growth form
and habitat to mountain alder (*Alnus tenuifolia*), which ranges from
Alaska, Yukon, and Mackenzie southward to New Mexico. In mountain alder,
the leaf blades are thin and papery, with rounded or blunt teeth,
compared to the thick leaf blades with sharp teeth in speckled alder;
mountain alder also is more treelike than speckled alder. They
intergrade where their distributions overlap in Saskatchewan westward.
Eurasian or European alder (*Alnus incana*) also is similar to these
North American natives. When these three are 'lumped' (considered to
represent only a single species, using the oldest name), the
nomenclature is summarized as below. Many still consider them to
represent three separate species.

-   *Alnus incana* (L.) Moench ssp. *incana* -- European alder

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-   *Alnus incana* ssp. *rugosa* (Du Roi) Clausen -- speckled alder

synonym: *Alnus rugosa* (Du Roi) Spreng.

synonym: *Alnus incana* var. *americana* Regel

synonym: *Alnus rugosa* var. *americana* (Regel) Fern.

-   *Alnus incana* ssp. *tenuifolia* (Nutt.) Breitung -- mountain alder

synonym: *Alnus tenuifolia* Nutt.

synonym: *Alnus incana* var. *occidentalis* (Dippel) C.L. Hitchc.

Brookside alder (*Alnus serrulata*), a species of the eastern and
southeastern USA, has sometimes been included as a subspecies of *A.
incana* but is now generally regarded as a separate species. Hybrids
occur where brookside alder and speckled alder grow together.

**Distribution**

Speckled alder ranges over much of the eastern two-thirds of Canada and
reaches into Alberta, British Columbia, Mackenzie, and Yukon. In the
USA, it reaches into the Lake States and Northeast and as far south (at
higher elevations) as Iowa, West Virginia, Maryland, and Virginia. For
current distribution, please consult the Plant Profile page for this
species on the PLANTS Web site.

### Establishment

*Adaptation*: Speckled alder colonizes stream banks, lake shores, and
damp meadows and also occurs in bogs and nutrient-rich swamp
communities, at 0-800 meters. It is weedy in damp areas along roadsides
and other disturbed sites. It grows abundantly in various soil types,
from sandy to gravelly, loamy, clayey, and mucky, and it can tolerate
periods of flooding as well as occasional droughts. It often dominates
the understory in communities of black spruce, balsam fir, jack pine,
tamarack, northern white-cedar, balsam poplar, and birch-aspen, but
growth and reproduction occur most vigorously in full sun. Overstory
removal brings rapid release of speckled alder, which may form dense,
nearly pure thickets. Gaps created by fire and logging in these wetland
forests are quickly invaded by speckled alder.

Flowering occurs in early spring (March--May), before the leaves appear,
the inflorescences formed in late summer the season before flowering.
Fruit maturation is in late August--September with the seeds dispersed
the following spring.

*Propagation by Seed*: Speckled alder can be propagated by seed or by
cuttings. Seeds are shaken from dried cones collected in September and
October and can be stored air-dry in sealed containers for several
years. They are most easily sown in a cold frame immediately after
ripening, in sand or a sand-humus mixture. Spring planting of seeds
collected earlier requires stratification in moist sand or vermiculite
for 60-90 days at 5° C. Seedbeds should be kept moist and shaded until
late in the summer. Germination rates are often low. Softwood cuttings
taken in summer, treated with rooting promoter, and rooted under mist
provide good starts; cuttings of mature wood taken soon after leaves
fall also are reported to be effective. Two or three year-old seedlings
are used for field planting.

*General*: Flowering and fruit production begin at about 5-10 years,
with abundant fruit crops produced at about 4-year intervals. An optimal
seedbed for germination is exposed, constantly moist mineral soil. Mild
intensity burning and scarification also encourage regeneration.
Individuals of speckled alder are fast growing, but short-lived.

Most new stems in alder stands are formed through sprouting from
rhizomes, which may result in dense, clonal thickets. Such sprouting is
independent of aboveground stem damage, but root crown sprouts may
contribute strongly to regeneration following top-kill from fires.
Sprouting rhizomes are usually within about 5 centimeters of the soil
surface.

**Management**

Alders have relatively few insect or disease problems, although alder
psyllid and alder blight aphid can damage the leaves.

Mild spring and early summer fires that kill only the aerial stems are
recommended for regeneration of speckled alder. Severe fires that remove
the organic layer and expose and char root crowns can completely
eliminate sprouting in speckled alder or significantly retard
regeneration. Fire intervals of about 9 years are adequate to keep
speckled alder stands at an early successional stage. Longer intervals
may encourage the expansion of alder thickets at the expense of other
forest types.

Alder patches of various age classes can be maintained by staggered
cutting and provide the best wildlife cover. Spring and winter cutting
produces the most rapid sprout growth.

**Cultivars, Improved and Selected Materials (and area of origin)**

A few cultivars have been developed from *Alnus incana* (the European
populations, see above): \'Aurea\' has new yellow foliage and bright
yellow-orange male catkins; \'Laciniata\' is a cut leaf form with
exceptionally deep lobing; \'Pendula\' is a weeping form.

**References**

Barnes, B.V. & W.H. Wagner, Jr. 1981. *Michigan trees*. The University
of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Britton, N.L. 1908. *North American trees*. Henry Holt & Company, New
York, New York.

Brown, C.A. 1965. *Louisiana trees and shrubs*. Claitor's Bookstore,
Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Curtis, J.T. 1959. *The vegetation of Wisconsin*. The University of
Wisconsin Press, Madison, Wisconsin.

Furlow, J.J. 1979. *The systematics of the American species of Alnus
(Betulaceae)*. Rhodora 81:1--121, 151--248.

Furlow, J.J. 1993. *Alnus*. Pp. 509-516, IN: *Flora of North America,
North of Mexico. Vol. 3*. Oxford Univ. Press, New York. Accessed
September 2000

\<http://hua.huh.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/Flora/flora.pl?FLORA_ID=12395\>

Green, C.H. 1939. *Trees of the south*. The University of North Carolina
Press, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Grimm, W.C. 1967. *Familiar trees of America*. Harper & Row, Publishers,
New York, New York.

Grimm, W.C. 1970. *Home guide to trees, shrubs, and wildflowers*.
Stackpole Books, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Hamann, A. 1999. *Utilization and management of red alder \[Alnus
rubra\] genetic resources in British Columbia*. Ph.D. dissertation.
Dept. of Forest Science, Univ. of British Columbia.

\<http://genetics.forestry.ubc.ca/hamann/phthesis/phthesis.html\>
Accessed September 2000.

Healy, W.M. & J.D. Gill 1974. *Shrubs and vines of northeastern
wildlife*. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service.

Hosie, R.C. 1969. *Native trees of Canada*. 7^th^ ed. Canadian Forest
Service, Department of Fisheries and Forestry, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Hylander, N. 1957. *On cut-leaved and small-leaved forms of Alnus
glutinosa and A. incana*. Svensk Bot. Tidskr. 51:437--453.

Murai, S. 1964. *Phytotaxonomical and geobotanical studies on gen. Alnus
in Japan (III). Taxonomy of whole world species and distribution of each
sect*. Bull. Gov. Forest Exp. Sta. 171:1--107.

Trappe, J.M., J.F. Franklin, R.F. Tarrant, & G.M. Hansen (eds.) 1968.
*Biology of alder*. USDA, Forest Service, Portland, Oregon.

USDA NRCS 2003. *The PLANTS database*. National Plant Data Center, Baton
Rouge, Louisiana. \<http://plants.usda.gov\>. Version 030127.

Van Deelen, T.R. 1991. *Alnus rugosa*. IN: W.C. Fischer (compiler*). The
fire effects information system \[database\]*. USDA Forest Service,
Intermountain Research Station, Intermountain Fire Sciences Laboratory,
Missoula, Montana.
\<http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/shrub/alnrug/\>

**Prepared By**

*Guy Nesom*

Formerly BONAP, North Carolina Botanical Garden, University of North
Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

### Species Coordinator

## *Lincoln Moore*

USDA NRCS National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Edited: 27jan03 jsp; 30may06jsp

For more information about this and other plants, please contact your
local NRCS field office or Conservation District, and visit the PLANTS
Web site\<[http://plants.usda.gov](http://plants.usda.gov/)\> or the
Plant Materials Program Web site
\<[http://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov](http://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov/)\>

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