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Alnus nitida (Spach) Endl.Gen., Pl.Suppl. 4(2):20. 1847. Hook .f., l.c.; Collett, Fl.Siml.473.1902; Brandis, Ind.Trees,623.1911; Kanjilal,For.Fl. Siw. Jaun. Div. 397. 1911; Parker, For. Fl. Punj. ed. 3.489.1956; Browicz, l.c.
Vern.: ‘sharol’.
Clethropsis nitida Spach
A tree 20 m or more tall. Young shoots pubescent, becoming glabrescent when old. Leaves ovate to elliptic-ovate, 5-15 cm x 3-9 cm, acute or acuminate, remotely serrate to sub-serrate, pubescent to pilose, often villous at the angles of the veins on the under surface, base cuneate to rounded; petiole 1-4 cm long, glabrous to pubescent. Male flowers in catkins, up to 19 cm long; peduncle 5-6.5 mm long; bract c. 1.2 mm long, more or less ovate, bracteoles smaller, suborbiculate. Tepals oblong-obovate to spathulate, c. l mm long, apex and margin minutely toothed. Anthers c. 1 mm long, filament slightly shorter than the tepals, scarcely forked. Female flowers in erect ‘woody cones’, 3-3.5 cm x c. 1.2 cm; bract broadly ovate, bracteoles suborbiculate. Styles 2, linear. Fruiting scale 5-lobed, 5-6 mm long, apex obliquely truncate. Nut 2.5-4 mm long, fringed by the narrow and more or less leathery wings.
Fl.Per.: the male catkins bloom in Sept.-Oct., the female flowers opening first.
Type: ‘in Emodo’, Jacquemont (P).
Distribution: The temperate Himalayas, from Swat to Kunawar.
The ‘alder tree’ is commonly found along streams or cultivated as a roadside tree, from Dir eastwards, at 1000-2900 m elevation. The bark is used in some places for dyeing and tanning purposes.
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