The Alder

-Botanical

Latin name: Aulnus

The alder is a tree which comes from the North Hemisphere. Its main characteristic is its red wood. Its trunk is a very dark grey, and bleeds when it is chopped. Very well-known in Europe, it can lives until 2000 meters in altitude. But its favorite place of living is in humid places, where they can grow until 30 meters high. It's a water-loving tree, created a good shade for plants and fish of the river.
This tree has its flowers in February, it's one of the first flowering of the year. It lost its leaves in winter, but they stay green very late in autumn.

-Customs, Legends and Mythology

Gaelic name: Fearn
Month: January
Color: Crimson
Letter in the Ogham: F, V
Magical properties: Help in making choices, spiritual guidance and protection

For ancient Britain people, the alder was the tree representing their union with Gael people. It was part of the sacred Druidic wood.
For the Greek and Roman people, this tree was a symbol of life after death, associated to the Greek God Cronos.
In the Nordic mythology, it's again a fateful tree, and when people want to fell it, it cries blood tears.
Because of its place of living, most of time in the marshes, and of the blood-red color of its wood when it's chopping, this tree was associated by some people with sorceresses. But in other cultures, this tree was estimated sacred, and this blood-red color represented the generosity of the Gods, and the health of the land.
In Ireland, people used to burn the house of someone who felled a sacred Alder. The alder was dedicated to Bran, the Celt knight.

-Healing

The pollen of these flowers can be strongly allergenic for some people.
People use very often the alder bark, which is astringent as is efficient to cure sore throats. In mouth-bath, it's useful to tone up the gums.
It's well known that alder leaves attract louses and fleas, that's why they constitute an excellent trap.

-Physical uses

The noble characteristics of the Alder explained that its wood was very appreciated to realize very good guitars.
The alder tree is also used to reforest the land. Because of its strong roots, it is very efficient at the edge of the rivers, to maintain the banks. The alder wood was used to build forks, which explain also its bad reputation in the past. When this wood is on contact with water, it became extremely strong, and is rot-proof, that's why Venice, for example, is currently built on alder wood stilts. And in general, this wood is useful for the conception of ladders or toys. It's again liked by bakers, because when its wood is burning, there is a very high temperature.
From barks and branches, the ink for the conception of felt-pit is extracted.