General: Deciduous shrub or tree, up to 12 m tall, usually 2-5 m tall, new growth short-hairy; axillary buds with short stalks; bark scaly, often lichen-covered, yellowish-brown or grey.
Leaves: Alternate, deciduous, smooth, coarsely to irregularly toothed, the teeth pointing outwards, leaf margins not rolled under, brownish in the fall.
Flowers: Inflorescence of male and female catkins, which open before the leaves on previous year's growth; male catkins with stalks.
Fruits: Small nutlets, without wings; female cones 1-1.5 cm long, egg-shaped.
1. Leaves finely once or twice saw-toothed; axillary buds unstalked, pointed; male catkins unstalked; stalks as long as or longer than the conelike sillicles..........................A. viridis
1. Leaves coarsely to irregularly round-toothed; axillary buds pedunculate, blunt or short-pointed; male catkins stalked; stalks shorter than the conelike silicles
2. Leaf margins rolled under; nutlets with narrow-winged margins.......................................A. rubra
2. Leaf margins not rolled under; nutlets wingless..................................A. incana
SOURCE: Illustrated Flora of British Columbia, Volume 2
Habitat / Range
Moist forests, streamsides, bogs and fens in the montane zone; common in BC east of the Coast-Cascade Mountains; N to AK, YT and NT, E to SK, and S to NM, AZ and CA.
Ecological Framework for Alnus incana ssp. tenuifolia
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
BC Ministry of Environment:BC Species and Ecosystems Explorer,
the authoritative source for conservation information in British Columbia.
Synonyms and Alternate Names
Alnus purpusii Callier Alnus purpusii Callier Alnus incana var. occidentalis subsp. rugosa (Dippel) C.L. Hitchc. Alnus incana var. occidentalis (Dippel) C.L. Hitchc. Alnus incana var. virescens S. Wats. Alnus tenuifolia Nutt. Alnus tenuifolia var. occidentalis (Nutt.) Breit.
