DCHP-1 Online

swamp alder

• 1 the speckled alder, Alnus rugosa, common in wet areas from Saskatchewan to Nova Scotia.

  See also: spotted alder  

  • 1852  (1923)  The inner bark of the swamp-alder, simply boiled in water, makes a beautiful red.
  • 1925  [The] hedgerows of swamp alder which bordered the fields reminded [him] of the Marsh as it had been.
  • 1952  (1954)  . . . to our left, lay the woodsy thickets, the tall stands of spruce and fir and hemlock and cedar, patched and slashed by clumps of tangled swamp alder. . . .

• 2 a variety of this species found in Nova Scotia and the Eastern United States.

  • 1947  She talked of . . . the virtues of the bark of swamp alder, of wild ginger for stomach-ache. . . .
  • 1956  The type form of this species is the common swamp alder, Alnus rugosa . . . found in Canada only in western Nova Scotia.