Index / Search / Alnus viridis ssp. crispa

§1 Plant

Alnus viridis (Chaix) DC. ssp. crispa (Aiton) Turrill

vernacular mountain alder — subspecies · Betulaceae

USDA: ALVIC
GBIF: 8279572 syn.
Rank: subspecies

mountain alder (Alnus viridis ssp. crispa) — Platephotograph · Christopher J. EarleCC BY-NC source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Growth habit: Shrub, Tree
Duration: Perennial
Group: Dicot
Family: Betulaceae Gray
Genus: Alnus

§2a

Native status, by region

CAN Canada Native
GL Greenland Native
L48 Lower 48 States Native
SPM St. Pierre & Miquelon Native

§2b

County-level range

· 45 counties across 6 states/territories

Legend Native · 45 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought: None
Shade: Medium
Moisture use: High
Fire: Medium
Salinity: None
Anaerobic: High
CaCO₃: Low
Hedging: Medium

§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance: -62 °F minimum
Frost-free days: 80 min.
Precipitation: 12–60 in/yr
pH range: 4.8–7
Root depth: 20 in min.
Fertility need: Medium
Soil texture: coarse, medium

§3c

Form & growth

Growth form: Thicket Forming
Growth rate: Moderate
Lifespan: Moderate
Mature height: 10 ft
Height @ 20 y: 10 ft
Foliage texture: Medium
Foliage colour: Green
Porosity (summer): Moderate
Porosity (winter): Porous
Flower colour: Yellow
Fruit colour: Brown
Fire resistant: Yes
N fixation: Low
Toxicity: None

§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period: Summer
Seed abundance: High
Seed begins: Summer
Seed ends: Fall
Spread rate: Moderate
Stratify: Yes
Seeds / lb: 1,280,000
Propagation: seed, bare root, container

§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability: Routinely Available
Nursery stock: No
Browse palatability: Low
Graze palatability: Low
Palatable, human: No
Lumber: No
Fuelwood: Medium
Christmas tree: No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 45 counties across 6 states/territories.

Maine view state ↗ 15 N ▾

Massachusetts view state ↗ 3 N ▾

New Hampshire view state ↗ 8 N ▾

New York view state ↗ 8 N ▾

Pennsylvania view state ↗ 2 N ▾

Vermont view state ↗ 9 N ▾

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/ALVIC ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/8279572 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T05:06:36Z