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Sierra Alder

The Alnus Rhombifolia is commonly known as Sierra Alder, as well as White Alder

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Growing Regions

White alder is distributed from the Pacific coast of Baja California, north in the coastal valleys to just north of San Francisco Bay, in the interior foothills of the Coast Ranges and low to mid elevation slopes of the Sierra Nevada. It is found farther north along the lower eastern slopes of the Cascades in Oregon and Washington and in the dry interior valleys of Oregon, extending into southern British Columbia. It extends eastward along the main tributaries of the Columbia River to the lower valleys of southeastern and south-central Washington, and northeastern Oregon, reaching its eastern limits in Idaho along the Clearwater and Snake Rivers [22].

     

General Information

The currently accepted scientific name for white alder is Alnus rhombifolia Nutt. [13,20,22,24,27]. There are no recognized subspecies, varieties, or forms.

White alder is restricted to riparian woodland communities.  In these
communities it is often found with Fremont cottonwood (Populus
fremontii), California sycamore (Platanus racemosa), willows (Salix
spp.), ash (Fraxinus spp.), California live oak (Quercus agrifolia),
valley oak (Q. lobata), and Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii)
[2,30,31,39].

Plublished classification schemes listing white alder as a dominant part
of the vegetation in community types (cts), habitat types (hts), or
plant associations (pas) are presented below:

   Area                    Classification             Authority

CA                  hardwood forest&woodland cts   Barbour 1987

s CA                general veg. pas               Paysen & others 1980

CA:San Gabriel Mts  general veg. cts               Hanes 1976

CA:Santa Ana&San    general veg. cts               Vogl 1976
 Jacinto Mts    

CA:San Bernardino   general veg. cts               Minnich 1976
 Mts

sw USA              wetland cts                    Brown 1979

e Wa,nID            steppe hts                     Daubenmire 1970

Much of the information presented here is attributed to:
Uchytil, Ronald J. 1989. Alnus rhombifolia. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online]. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available at USDA Forest Service.

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