North Carolina Wildflowers

Betulaceae > Alnus

Blooming in late winter, alders produce separate male and female catkins (clusters of flowers). The male catkins are the long yellow clusters on the right. The fresh female catkins are the small reddish clusters directly above the males. The cone-like structures on the left are last year's female catkins, where the seeds were produced and released.

Clusters of male and female catkins.

Close-up of female catkins. Note also the fuzzy twigs.

Leaves are alternate and sharply toothed with fuzzy petioles.

Young to medium-aged twigs may be brownish-burgundy with pale lenticels.

Alder stem attacked by some fungus(?).

Older bark is gray and smooth.

Hazel Alder is common throughout North Carolina along streams and in marshy habitats.

Found in northwestern North America, this large shrub often grows in thickets along slopes at mid to hi elevations.

Native to Europe and naturalized across the Midwest in the US & Ontario. Not yet recorded in North Carolina.

Easily recognized by rounded to truncate to partially notched leaf tips.

Young stem detail.