Alnus viridis			provinance:
These are essentially shrubs, certainly so in the wild, colonising such tough habitats that they will grow anywhere; even in the teeth of extreme exposure.. The Canadian crispa, albeit prostrated, defies sea spray on the cliffs of Cape Spear in eastern Newfoundland. They are excellent nurses in the garden and so far their value for shelter has been totally passed by, let alone their catkin display in spring, the green cones on the branches through the summer, and not least the powerful and sweet aroma from the winter buds; released especially when they are bursting in spring. In the garden the Far Eastern species especially can be allowed with pruning help to develop as multistemmed trees - the quirkily shaped limbs often wonderfully silvery in the winter sun. Alnus viridis, not only from the Alps but from the Tatrras and Carpathians also is itself ‘dry’ and not in fact fragrant, has angled twigs with smaller and more doubly toothed leaves than the rest, but bears the most resin externally, in that the male catkins particularly are encrusted with it and sometimes appear almost white. The subspecies suaveolens from the higher mountains of Corsica, with rounder, fringe-toothed leaves probably deserves specific rank, and is in contrast gummy and known there as L’Aune Fragrante.
BARK		FOLIAGE		FLOWERS/FRUITS
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