Catkins, Cones and tiny red Flowers of the Alder Tree

The lane is pretty at this time of year, bright yellow celandines, snowdrops in abundance sadly now past their best, dozens of daffodils in fat bud. There are glorious alder trees, each branch splitting into many smaller ones, and covered with a fine array of long, stretched, yellow (reminiscent of primroses) catkins swaying in the breeze and shedding their maleness in the pollen shaken off and carried to the tiny almost insignificant red flowers, then of course to complete the magic of this tree, there are the tiny cones, dark, pretty and beautifully formed.

I have read of two different myths about the alder tree. The first is a Scandinavian myth and it tells us that the alder is the tree from which woman was created. The second is an Irish myth and in it we hear that man is created from the alder. Interestingly same tree but opposite sexes in the two myths.

The alder, latin name Alnus Glutinosis and genus Alnus is one of my very favourite trees. It is usually found growing by rivers, streams or ditches, and often is seen with catkins and cones, always with cones and sometimes with catkins, cones and tiny red flowers.