Tree of the month: January 2023 - Alder and Italian Alder

2/1/2023 0 Comments

Tree of the month: January 2023 - Alder and Italian Alder

Each month we will be featuring a species of tree found on Parkwood Springs. Visit our tree of the month page for further details here. This month we will be highlighting Alder and Italian Alder.

Alder

Our native Alder, a member of the birch family, can grow to 30 metres and live to be 150 years old. It is a ‘colonising’ species and particularly thrives in wet land, or with its roots in marshland, or by river, canal or pond. We have some in our woodland, and nearby there are many beside the River Don and around Crabtree Pond

The roots ‘fix’ nitrogen so can enrich poor soils, and also prevent erosion of riverbanks, as well as providing ideal nest sites for Otters. The pollen from catkins helps feed early insects. The fruiting bodies, or ‘cones’, which start off as green ovals, but become darker as they are pollinated, release seeds on which several bird species feed in autumn. The best time to identify Alder is in winter, when the dark cones and pale mauve, young catkins are very visible

Other uses for native Alder Wood:

It made the best charcoal for gunpowder
Many old uses are associated with the timber being waterproof, e.g. casks, drainpipes, the foundations of bridges and cathedrals and the old washing ‘dolly’. In some areas it is called the ‘dolly-tree’
Its strength and durability meant it was used for shields, arrows, clogs, stilts
In smoking to preserve meat and fish
For early flutes
It is still used for Fender guitars
The leaves, bark, fruit and ‘flowers yield dyes including the Lincoln Green of ‘Robin Hood’ fame

Herbal uses: The Alder, like so many of our native plants, has old associations with herbal remedies. It was used to treat rheumatism, and as a gargle for throats and tonsillitis. The leaves were believed to cool the feet, so were placed in shoes for the long walks many of our ancestors had to undertake.

Wildlife and Alders:
A wide range of wildlife benefits from Alder, especially from our native form, including:

Early insects feed on the pollen
Seed-eating birds benefit in late autumn and winter, including the Redpoll
Many species of moth, including the Tussocks feed on the leaves
The Alder Beetle can sometimes pepper the leaves with holes in late autumn - the tree survives
Many lichens, mosses and fungi live on the bark
Fish and Otters shelter in the roots.

Myths and Legends:
The native Alder tree has several myths and stories surrounding it Some arise from the deep orange of the wood when cut, and the way it can appear to ‘weep blood’ with its dark sap.

Because of this, many myths link it to the releasing of malign spirits when it is felled.
For similar reasons, there is a legend that Adders lurked in Alders.

The Alder’s qualities of yielding dyes probably led to the belief that Fairies used it to dye their clothes. This belief appears in the German legend Erikonig”, the Alder King, immortalised in the Music of Schubert. The green dye is still used, extracted from the leaves. The leaf opposite has been eaten by Alder Beetles, but shows the distinctive shape of our native Alder leaf.

The strength and durability of the wood probably gave rise to it symbolising strength and protection. In Irish legend, man was made from Alder and woman from Rowan. It was a sacred tree for Celts and Druids.

Some cultures believed it would help you find your way back to reality when lost in ‘other worlds’. A branch left in a cupboard by our ancestors was thought to protect the wood of the cupboard from woodworm as they believed woodworm would choose to eat the Alder first!

Italian Alder

There are two species of Alder on Parkwood Springs - the Native Alder and the Italian Alder. The Italian Alder has similar shaped ‘cones’ to our native Alder, but they are larger. This species is not so dependent on damp soils. It has been planted extensively around Sheffield, and other urban areas in our parks, along streets and roadways and on brownfield sites. This is because the elegant Italian Alder is fast-growing, tolerant of different soils and can cope with urban pollution and brownfield sites. Italian Alder has glossy leaves which are more elongated than the native Alder tree and they stay on the trees until early winter.

The pollen from the long catkins of Italian Alder feed many early insects so they are useful for our wildlife. Like the native Alder, the seeds attracts birds like Siskin and Redpoll, in late autumn and winter, and the smooth bark is a home for several lichens and fungi

The Alder Tree also gives it’s name to some well-known places in our area, including Owlerton and Owler Bar (locally pronounced ‘Ouler’) - the place where Alders grow. ‘Owler’ is the Middle English word for Alder and is a Northern English dialectic word for the tree.

The first known use of the name ‘Alder’ is in the 14th Century, deriving from the Early English ‘Ouller’ and Old English ‘Alor’. Although many areas have been drained and therefore are less likely to be the home for Alder, place-names can help identify where they once grew.

Alder Carr is the name given to the habitats Alder creates, together with willow, along our waterways.

The Alder turns up in the renowned Irish poet Seamus Heaney’s translation of the medieval Irish poem ‘Sweeney Astray’. The poem is about an Irish King cursed by a Saint to always wander the Irish landscape. He became familiar with all the trees:

‘The Alder is my darling/ All thornless in the gap/ Some milk of human kindness/ Coursing in its sap’.

The Venetians understood the particular qualities of Alder. Realising it didn’t rot when wet, they used it for the foundations of much of Venice, including the famous Rialto Bridge.

In fact, Alder gets harder when underwater.

There are some worrying signs of ‘Alder die-back in some areas- identified by lesions in the bark, ‘bleeding’ red sap.

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