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Smooth Alder

Scientific Names


• Alnus serratlata
• Hazelnut family

Common Names

Hazel alder
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Parts Usually Used

Stem bark
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Description of Plant(s) and Culture

Smooth alder (A. serrulata), the hazel alder, is a shrub or tree growing to 15 feet; with blackish bark that is lightly speckled with small, grayish to orange lenticels. Its leaves are elliptic to obovate (wedged-shaped), finely serrate and usually fine-haired underneath, broadest above the middle. Male catkins abruptly bent. Flowers (catkins) February to May. Cones are woody, erect, persistent.
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Where Found

It can be found from Nova Scotia to Oklahoma, Florida, and Louisiana.

Forms thickets along waterways.
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Medicinal Properties

Astringent, tonic, emetic, diuretic, purgative
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Uses

Native Americans used the bark tea for diarrhea, pain of childbirth, coughs, toothaches, sore mouth, and as a blood purifier, a laxative. Externally, as an eye wash, a wash for hives, poison-ivy rash, piles, swellings, and sprains. Used in the 1800’s for malaria and syphilis.
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Bibliography

The Herb Book, by John Lust, Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY. copyright 1974.

Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants, by Steven Foster and James A. Duke., Houghton Mifflin Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10000

Webster's New World Dictionary, Third College Edition, Victoria Neufeldt, Editor in Chief, New World Dictionaries: A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., 15 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10023, 1984

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