All of the birches, especially the horticultural forms, are used more or less for ornamental planting. They are beautiful trees but are short lived. =4. ÁLNUS.= The Alders. Trees or shrubs; bark astringent; staminate and pistillate catkins begin to develop early in summer and flower the following year early in the spring before the leaves appear; bracts of the fertile catkins thick and woody, obdeltoid with 3-rounded lobes at the apex; nuts obovate, reddish-brown. Leaves sharply double-serrate, the ends of the primary veins forming the apex of the larger teeth, glaucous beneath; nuts with a narrow thick margin 1 A. incana. Leaves single-serrate, pale beneath; nuts without margins 2 A. rugosa. =1.= =Alnus incàna= (Linnæus) Muenchhausen. Speckled Alder. Plate 36. Shrubs or small trees; bark generally smooth and a reddish-brown with a tinge of gray, with grayish dots, hence its name; twigs hairy at first, becoming smooth by the end of the season and a golden or reddish-brown with many fine dark specks; leaves broadly-oval, acute or short-pointed at apex, usually broadly rounded at the base, average blades 6.5-11 cm. long, glaucous beneath, hairy on both sides on unfolding, at maturity becoming glabrous above or with a few hairs on the veins, beneath remaining more or less hairy until late in autumn when usually only the veins are hairy; pistillate catkins resembling small cones, 1-1.5 cm. long and usually 7-12 mm. wide, near the ends of the branches, usually in clusters of 2-7. [Illustration: Plate 36. ALNUS INCANA (Linnæus) Muenchhausen. Speckled Alder. (× 1/2.)] =Distribution.=--Newfoundland to the Saskatchewan, south to New York, northeastern Ohio, northern Indiana and Nebraska. In Indiana it is confined to the northern tier of counties. I have specimens from Elkhart, Lagrange, Lake and Porter Counties. It was reported from Carroll County by Thompson, but in the absence of a verifying specimen I am inclined to think this citation should be referred to _Alnus_ _rugosa_. This species grows in low ground on the borders of streams, borders of swamps and in almost extinct sloughs near Lake Michigan. It is also found along Pigeon River in the eastern part of Lagrange County. In the vicinity of Mineral Springs in Porter County it is locally a common shrub or tree. It has the habit of stooling out, and commonly the several specimens will be deflected from a vertical from 20-45 degrees. The largest specimens are from 1-1.4 dm. in diameter and about 10 m. high. =Remarks.=--This species could be used to good advantage in ornamental planting in low ground. It grows rapidly, is easily transplanted and its foliage is dense and attractive.