Our native alder is a moderately small sized tree with a narrow crown and short, spreading branches. It grows extensively in damp places alongside streams, rivers, ponds and lakes as well as marshy areas.
In some boggy areas it grows in great perfusion and forms the habitat commonly called alder carr.
The tree has both sexes of flowers on it. The the male catkins resemble hazel catkins a little.
The female flowers develop a little later in the year, are smaller, cylindrical and are purplish brown in colour. The flowers are wind pollinated.
Fertile female flowers develop in to these small cones and they will often stay on the tree all winter, long after the seeds have dropped. The seeds themselves are distributed generally by floating on the water until they reach land.
These cones, which are quite unique for a deciduous tree, are quite often the defining feature in winter.
The alder bears on its roots little nodules that contain a live bacterium which enable it to take soluble nitrogen salts out of the inert nitrogen of the air. Consequently, the spoil on which alder grows is remarkably fertile.
Alder is rarely planted as it has little forestry value although wood turners quite like it because the wood is both strong yet easily worked.
The debarking device should be designed so that it could be switched on only when needed. This would ensure that the harvester head could be used to harvest normal timber and also energy wood.
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