Plantae > Tracheophyta > Magnoliopsida > Fagales > Betulaceae > Alnus > Alnus rhombifolia

Alnus rhombifolia (white alder)

Synonyms: Alnus californica; Alnus rhombifolia var. bernardiana; Alnus rhombifolia var. bernardina; Alnus rhombifolia var. ovalis; Alnus rhombifolia var. typica

Wikipedia Abstract

Alnus rhombifolia, the white alder, is an alder tree native to western North America, from British Columbia and Washington east to western Montana, southeast to the Sierra Nevada, and south through the Peninsular Ranges and Colorado Desert oases in Southern California. It occurs in riparian zone habitats at an altitudes range of 100–2,400 metres (330–7,870 ft). While not reported in northern Baja California, it has been predicted on the basis of its climatic adaptation to occur there also. Alnus rhombifolia is primarily found in the chaparral and woodlands, montane, and temperate forests ecoregions.
View Wikipedia Record: Alnus rhombifolia

Attributes

Air Quality Improvement [1]  Low
Allergen Potential [1]  High
Carbon Capture [1]  Medium-High
Screening - Summer [2]  Moderate
Screening - Winter [2]  Porous
Shade Percentage [1]  82 %
Temperature Reduction [1]  High
Wind Reduction [1]  Medium
Bloom Period [2]  Fall
Drought Tolerance [2]  Low
Edible [3]  May be edible. See the Plants For A Future link below for details.
Fire Tolerance [2]  Low
Flower Type [3]  Monoecious
Frost Free Days [2]  6 months 20 days
Fruit/Seed Abundance [2]  High
Fruit/Seed Begin [2]  Summer
Fruit/Seed End [2]  Summer
Growth Form [2]  Multiple Stem
Growth Period [2]  Spring, Summer
Growth Rate [2]  Rapid
Hazards [3]  The freshly harvested inner bark is emetic but is alright once it has been dried;
Leaf Type [3]  Deciduous
Lifespan [2]  Perennial
Pollinators [3]  Wind
Propagation [2]  Bare Root, Container, Cutting, Seed
Root Depth [2]  12 inches (30 cm)
Seed Spread Rate [2]  Rapid
Seed Vigor [2]  High
Seeds Per [2]  686999 / lb (1514574 / kg)
Shape/Orientation [2]  Erect
Specific Gravity [4]  0.41
Structure [3]  Tree
Usage [3]  The bark and the strobils are a source of tannin; The roots have been used to make baskets; The inner bark can be dried, ground into a powder then mixed with flour and water for use as a dye; The colour is not specified; The fresh bark can be chewed and used as a red dye; Wood - light, soft, not strong, brittle, close and straight-grained, very durable in water; It is of limited value as a low-grade lumber, but is used principally for fuel;
Vegetative Spread Rate [2]  None
Flower Color [2]  Green
Foliage Color [2]  Green
Fruit Color [2]  Brown
Height [3]  39 feet (12 m)
Width [1]  30 feet (9.2 m)
Hardiness Zone Minimum [1]  USDA Zone: 8 Low Temperature: 10 F° (-12.2 C°) → 20 F° (-6.7 C°)
Hardiness Zone Maximum [1]  USDA Zone: 11 Low Temperature: 40 F° (4.4 C°) → 50 F° (10 C°)
Light Preference [2]  Mostly Shady
Soil Acidity [2]  Neutral
Soil Fertility [2]  Infertile
Water Use [1]  High
View Plants For A Future Record : Alnus rhombifolia

Protected Areas

Predators

Archips rosana (Rose Tortrix)[5]
Eriophyes laevis[6]
Papilio rutulus (Western tiger swallowtail)[5]
Phyllonorycter incanella[5]

Consumers

Parasitized by 
Polycesta californica[7]

Range Map

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
1i-Tree Species v. 4.0, developed by the USDA Forest Service's Northern Research Station and SUNY-ESF using the Horticopia, Inc. plant database.
2USDA Plants Database, U. S. Department of Agriculture
3Plants For A Future licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
4Forest Inventory and Analysis DB version 5.1, May 4, 2013, U.S. Forest Service
5HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants Gaden S. Robinson, Phillip R. Ackery, Ian J. Kitching, George W. Beccaloni AND Luis M. Hernández
6Biological Records Centre Database of Insects and their Food Plants
7Jorrit H. Poelen, James D. Simons and Chris J. Mungall. (2014). Global Biotic Interactions: An open infrastructure to share and analyze species-interaction datasets. Ecological Informatics.
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0