A tree (15 - 40 m), native to the high altitudes of Central and South America, which can stand temperatures that dip briefly below 0°C. It has a broad and spreading root system just below the soil. The usual rainfall is 1000 - 3000 mm or more. It has been successfully established in the South Island of New Zealand. Propagation by seed.
- The tree coppices and the timber is used for bridge construction and pilings, furniture, coffins, crates, plywood and pulp. Alnu cordaa (Italian alder) A large (to 27 m), conical shaped tree, which grows rapidly on most sites, including chalk soils and dry sites. It can grow to 15 m in 20 years. Alnu gluinoa (common alder or black alder) Occurring naturally, throughout Europe and North Africa, this tall (to 27 m and 5 m wide) deciduous tree grows along watercourses (including rocky banks) and in wet swampy lands, and will even flourish in areas that are frequently inundated by salt or brackish water. The leaves are eaten by horses, goats, cows and sheep, but pigs are said to refuse it.
The wood is used for waterside structures (the wood grows harder in water and becomes remarkably strong when permanently submerged and so is useful also for pumps and sluices). It has also been used for clogs, turnery, chair making, carts, spinning wheels, bowls, spoons, wooden heels, herring barrel staves and carving, and for making charcoal for use in gunpowder. The roots and knots make good material for cabinet making.
The bark is used in dyeing (red, black with coppers, yellow with a little copper, cinnamon from shoots cut in spring or tawny if dried and powdered, green from catkins, pinkish - fawn from the fresh wood) while the leaves can be used to tan leather or if spread across a floor will catch fleas on their glutinous surface.
Medicinally, a decoction of the bark is used to bathe swellings and inflammation, especially of the throat and has been known to cure ague (burning fever). Boiling the inner bark in vinegar produces a useful external wash for lice and for skin problems such as scabies and scabs. This liquid can also be used as a teeth cleaner. The fresh bark will induce vomiting, the powdered bark and the leaves have been used as an internal astringent and tonic and the bark also as an internal and external haemostatic against haemorrhage. Peasants of the Alps are reported to be frequently cured of rheumatism by being covered with bags full of the heated leaves.
Propagation is by seed in spring or by cuttings.