Description
It is the largest species of alder in North America and one of the largest in the world, reaching heights of 20–30 m. The official tallest red alder (1979) stands 32 meters tall in Clatsop County, Oregon (USA). The name derives from the bright rusty red color that develops in bruised or scraped bark. The bark is mottled, ashy-gray and smooth, often draped with moss. The leaves are ovate, 7–15 cm long, with bluntly serrated edges and a distinct point at the end; the leaf margin is revolute, the very edge being curled under, a diagnostic character which distinguishes it from all other alders. The leaves turn yellow in the autumn before falling. The male flowers are dangling reddish catkins 10–15 cm long in early spring, and female flowers are erect catkins which develop into small, woody, superficially cone-like oval dry fruit 2–3 cm long. The seeds develop between the woody bracts of the 'cones' they are shed in the autumn and winter.
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