Common Name: BIRCH FAMILY Habit: Shrub, tree; monoecious. Stem: trunk < 35 m; bark smooth to scaly, peeling in thin layers or not, lenticels present or not. Leaf: simple, alternate, petioled, deciduous; stipules deciduous; blade ovate to elliptic, generally serrate, generally +- doubly so. Inflorescence: catkin, generally appearing before leaves, often clustered; bracts each subtending 2--3 flowers, 3--6 bractlets. Staminate Inflorescence: pendent, +- elongate. Pistillate Inflorescence: pendent or erect, developing variously in fruit (see key to genera). Staminate Flower: sepals 0--4, minute; petals 0; stamens 1--10; pistil vestigial or 0. Pistillate Flower: sepals 0--4; petals 0; stamens 0; pistil 1, ovary inferior or superior, chambers 2, each 1-ovuled by abortion, stigmas 2. Fruit: achene, nut, winged or not, subtended or enclosed by 1--2 bracts. Genera In Family: 6 genera, 155 species: generally northern hemisphere; some cultivated. eFlora Treatment Author: John O. Sawyer, Jr. Scientific Editor: Thomas J. Rosatti.
Common Name: ALDER Stem: trunk < 35 m; bark smooth, gray to brown; twigs glabrous to fine-hairy, red-gray; lenticels small; winter buds stalked, 0--6-scaled. Leaf: glabrous to fine-hairy; blade 3--15 cm, cordate to elliptic or diamond-shaped. Staminate Inflorescence: 5--20 cm; bracts each subtending 3 flowers, 4 bractlets. Pistillate Inflorescence: 5--20 mm; bracts each subtending 2 flowers, 4 fused bractlets. Staminate Flower: sepals 4; stamens 1--4. Pistillate Flower: sepals 0. Fruit: many, in cone-like catkin, not enclosed by bract, winged, bracts 3 mm, woody, persistent. Etymology: (Latin: alder) Note: Root nodules contain nitrogen-fixing bacteria; wood used for interior finishing, to smoke fish, meats.
Alnus rubra Bong.
NATIVE Habit: Tree. Stem: trunk < 25 m. Leaf: blade thick, base rounded to tapered, tip acute, margin tightly rolled under, adaxially gray-green, midrib, major veins indented, abaxially +- gray-green, rusty-hairy, or with rusty, sessile glands. Ecology: Wet places, especially after logging; Elevation: < 1000 m. Bioregional Distribution: NCo, w KR, NCoRO, CCo, SnFrB; Distribution Outside California: to southern Alaska, Idaho. Flowering Time: Feb--Mar Synonyms: Alnus oregona Nutt. Jepson eFlora Author: John O. Sawyer, Jr. Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange) Previous taxon: Alnus rhombifolia Next taxon: Alnus viridis
Citation for this treatment: John O. Sawyer, Jr. 2012, Alnus rubra, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=12723, accessed on April 24, 2024.
Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on April 24, 2024.
Geographic subdivisions for Alnus rubra:
NCo, w KR, NCoRO, CCo, SnFrB
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(Note: any qualifiers in the taxon distribution description, such as 'northern', 'southern', 'adjacent' etc., are not reflected in the map above, and in some cases indication of a taxon in a subdivision is based on a single collection or author-verified occurence).
Data provided by the participants of the
Consortium of California Herbaria.
MAP LEGEND View all CCH records All markers link to CCH specimen records. The original determination is shown in the popup window.
Blue markers indicate specimens that map to one of the expected Jepson geographic subdivisions (see left map). Purple markers indicate specimens collected from a garden, greenhouse, or other non-wild location.
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CCH collections by month
Duplicates counted once; synonyms included.
Species do not include records of infraspecific taxa, if there are more than 1 infraspecific taxon in CA.
Blue line denotes eFlora flowering time (fruiting time in some monocot genera).