Beauty of alder trees

Although the beauty of the alder is of a secondary kind, it is worth occasional introduction into landscapes where there is much water to be planted round, or low running streams to cover with foliage. In these damp places, like the willow, it grows very well from truncheons or large limbs, stuck in the ground, which take root and become trees speedily. There are two principal varieties, the common alder (A. glutinosa), and the cut-leaved alder (A. glutinosa laciniata). The latter is much the handsomer tree, and is also the rarest in our nurseries.