Black alder
Alnus glutinosa
A broadleaf tree of wet ground, with dark, fissured bark and rounded leaves that are blunt or shallowly notched at the tip rather than drawn to a point. The female catkins ripen into small woody cones that persist on bare twigs through the winter. Valued by foragers for its wood, a traditional smoking fuel, and for bark long used in dyeing and tanning rather than as food.
Riverbanks, lake and pond margins, fen and wet woodland (alder carr) throughout Britain and Ireland, often on ground that floods in winter. Fixes nitrogen through root nodules, so it colonises poor waterlogged soils and is widely planted to stabilise banks.
Not a food tree: bark and leaves are heavily astringent with tannins and belong to dye and tanning use, not the kitchen. Alder buckthorn (Frangula alnus) shares the same wet woodland and its fresh bark is a violent purgative; it has untoothed leaves with straight parallel veins and small berries, never woody cones or catkins. Wet bank sides are unstable underfoot, and cutting bark or wood needs the landowner's permission.
Always use more than one reference to confirm a plant. You are responsible for what you choose to forage.
Woody cones on bare twigs
Ripe female catkins harden into blackish, cone-like structures about 1–1.5 cm long that stay on the tree right through winter. Nothing else native carries small persistent woody cones on a broadleaf twig, which settles it from two metres away in the leafless months.
Leaf outline
Leaves are rounded to obovate, 6–10 cm, with a blunt or slightly notched tip and a finely toothed edge. Hazel and elm leaves of similar size taper to a distinct point, so a blunt-ended leaf rules both out.
Buds and twigs
Buds are purple-brown, short-stalked and slightly sticky to the touch; twigs are speckled with pale orange lenticels. Birch buds are unstalked and the twigs shed papery bark, which the alder never does.
Cut wood colour
Freshly cut or bruised wood is pale cream and turns a deep orange-red within minutes of exposure. A useful confirmation when working with fallen limbs for smoking wood.
Updated 2026-08-07T21:15:32.012Z · Part of the shared Foragers Log catalogue · Other