Other Common Names:
Black Alder.
Winter-berry is a small shrub, found throughout, the province. It grows from 8 to 10 feet high and rarely exceeds one inch in diameter.
It is mostly found in low grounds, moist woods and swamps. It is a handsome shrub, belonging to the Holly Family, with bright green glossy leaves. Clusters of small greenish-white flowers appearing in May and June turn into bright scarlet berries in the autumn. These berries cling to the branches in the axil of the leaf all winter.
The wood is of no commercial importance.
DESCRIPTION
LEAVES: Alternate, simple, 2 to 3 inches long; oval, wedge-shaped at the base, single-toothed; smooth, thick, bright green above, paler, somewhat downy below.
FLOWERS: May-June, with or after the leaves, bisexual; greenish-white; borne in crowded clusters of 3 to 12 in the axils of the leaves; flower stems short with small brown scales.
FRUIT: September; berry-like, 1/4 to 5/16 of an inch in diameter, round or slightly depressed, alone or in clusters of 2 or 3, scarlet; pulp nauseous, yellowish; seeds 3 to 8.
TWIGS: Slender, much-branched, pale grey to yellowish grey. Terminal bud. extremely minute, light brown; laterals similar.
BARK: On young trunks greyish brown becoming dark grey as the tree grows older.
WOOD: Moderately light, weak, fine-textured, diffuse-porous; light yellow with paler sapwood.
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