Grey alder

Family Betulaceae.It naturally occurs in the European part of Russia, Western Siberia, in the Caucasus, in Western Europe and North America.

A large shrub or tree up to 20 m tall, with a narrowly ovate crown and light-grey, smooth bark. Young shoots are hairy, not sticky. Leaves are weakly lobed, acuminate, on pubescent petioles, dark green above, glaucous or grey-green and pubescent beneath. Young leaves are greyish, woolly-pubescent.

Grows quickly, more light-demanding and more frost-hardy than the black alder. It is less demanding of soils, tolerates waterlogging, but reaches best development on moist loams, at the edges of bogs. Lives 50–60 years. Propagated by seeds and root suckers, by layering and by cuttings.

Widely distributed throughout the forest zone. Has a number of ornamental forms. Used for stabilizing riverbanks, at forest edges and in the undergrowth of sparse woodlands. It contrasts well with dark-leaved species due to its pale foliage. Effective in hedges, but requires regular pruning.

Ornamental forms: blue (f. glauca) - widespread in North America, where it grows as a shrub or small tree (up to 6 m), with glabrous, glaucous leaves, sometimes pubescent beneath; golden (f. aurea) - with yellowish, pubescent-beneath leaves and reddish shoots; acuminate (f. acuminata) - leaves cut to about half into lanceolate, toothed lobes; pinnatifid (f. pinnatifida); monstrous (f. monstrosa) - with flat, prostrate branches; weeping (f. pendula); pyramidal (f. pyramidalis).

'Aurea'. Tree up to 3–5 m high, with leaves yellowish above and pubescent beneath. Later they become greenish-yellow. The leaves are ovate with an acute tip. In winter it is notable for its red-yellow young shoots. In spring brick-red catkins appear on the bare branches. Bark smooth, dark grey-greenish. Not long-lived.

A species close to it, replacing it in the Far East, alder woolly (A. hirsuta Turcz.) - usually grows as a shrub, less often as a tree up to 10 m tall. Biologically similar to the grey alder, but distinguished by greater frost hardiness. Used similarly to it.

based on materials from the website www.ultradrome.narod.ru