Alnus incana subsp. tenuifolia

Mountain alder, Mountain Alder

Family: Betulaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Mountain alder is a native shrub found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, California Ranges, and Sierra Nevada Highlands in wet places at elevations of 1,200 to 2,400 meters. Flowering from April to June, this plant produces small clustered flowers with yellow-green tones. Growing with multiple trunks up to 9 meters tall, the shrub develops a distinctive branching structure. Its leaves are thick with rounded to slightly heart-shaped bases, dark green on the upper surface with indented midribs and major veins, and yellow-green underneath. The shrub creates dense thickets in moist mountain environments, often near streams and wetland edges.

Habitat: Wet places

Bloom period: Apr-Jun

Elevation: 1200-2400 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoRH, CaRH, SNH

California counties: San Diego, Siskiyou, Plumas, Fresno, Alpine, Shasta, Nevada, Mono, El Dorado, Tuolumne, Humboldt, Trinity, Sierra, Tehama, Madera, Placer, Tulare, Glenn, Butte, Lassen, Mendocino, Inyo, Colusa, Lake, Amador, Yuba

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.