Index / Search / Alnus glutinosa
§1 Plant
Alnus glutinosa (L.) Gaertn.
vernacular European alder — species · Betulaceae
§2Habit & range
Habit and range
- Growth habit
- Tree
- Duration
- Perennial
- Group
- Dicot
- Family
- Betulaceae Gray
- Genus
- Alnus
§2a
Native status, by region
- CAN Canada Introduced
- L48 Lower 48 States Introduced
§2b
County-level range
· 50 counties across 8 states/territories§3Cultivation specs · USDA
Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.
§3a
Tolerances
- Drought
- Medium
- Shade
- Medium
- Moisture use
- Medium
- Fire
- Low
- Salinity
- Low
- Anaerobic
- Low
- CaCO₃
- Low
- Hedging
- Low
§3b
Climate & soil
- Cold tolerance
- -18 °F minimum
- Frost-free days
- 130 min.
- Precipitation
- 20–65 in/yr
- pH range
- 4.4–7.2
- Root depth
- 16 in min.
- Fertility need
- Low
- Soil texture
- coarse, medium, fine
§3c
Form & growth
- Growth form
- Multiple Stem
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Mature height
- 45 ft
- Height @ 20 y
- 40 ft
- Foliage texture
- Medium
- Foliage colour
- Green
- Porosity (summer)
- Moderate
- Porosity (winter)
- Porous
- Flower colour
- Purple
- Fruit colour
- Brown
- Fire resistant
- No
- N fixation
- High
- Toxicity
- None
§3d
Reproduction
- Bloom period
- Mid Spring
- Seed abundance
- Low
- Seed begins
- Summer
- Seed ends
- Fall
- Spread rate
- Slow
- Stratify
- Yes
- Seeds / lb
- 325,000
- Propagation
- seed, cuttings, bare root, container
§3e
Use & availability
- Commercial availability
- Routinely Available
- Nursery stock
- Yes
- Browse palatability
- Low
- Graze palatability
- Low
- Palatable, human
- No
- Protein potential
- High
- Lumber
- No
- Fuelwood
- Medium
- Christmas tree
- No
§4Counties, by state
Recorded in 50 counties across 8 states/territories.
Arkansas view state ↗ 1 I ▾
District of Columbia view state ↗ 1 I ▾
Kentucky view state ↗ 10 I ▾
Massachusetts view state ↗ 4 I ▾
New Jersey view state ↗ 9 I ▾
New York view state ↗ 15 I ▾
Pennsylvania view state ↗ 8 I ▾
Virginia view state ↗ 2 I ▾
§5Sources & provenance
USDA PLANTS
Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.
plants.usda.gov/ALGL2 ↗GBIF Backbone
Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.
gbif.org/species/2876213 ↗Record version
Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:
usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26
fetched 2026-05-26T05:06:36Z