Alnus glutinosa

Habitus: deciduous tree from the birch family (Betulaceae). It grows up to 25 meters, the crown is ovoid. The trunk is slender, the bark is smooth and greenish-brown when young, and reddish and strongly fissured into rectangular scales in older specimens, up to 2 cm thick. The root is well developed, it has no main vein, but the lateral roots are strong and well developed. The branches are horizontal and thin, the young twigs and young leaves are sticky, the buds are also sticky and are covered with two brown-purple scales.

Flower: The flowers are monoecious, growing in the axils of the leaves. The male flowers are in red-brown hanging fringes up to 5 cm long, 3-6 of them are gathered at the tips of the branches and are formed already in autumn, the female flowers are next to them grouped in 3-4 small, round fringes. They grow in the axils of the leaves. They bloom 10-15 days before leafing in the period from February to April when they release millions of pollen grains that are blown by the wind.

Leaf: alternate, obovate, 4-10 cm long, 3-7 cm wide, leathery, glabrous, dark green and shiny, with blunt tips, finely toothed, pronounced veins are visible on the underside, which clearly shows the face and back of the leaf divided into flats and axillary veins are reddish-brown hairy.