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medium-sized tree with brown-black bark and woody fruiting catkins; leaves are hairy beneath

medium-sized tree with brown-black bark and woody fruiting catkins; leaves are hairy beneath

A tree which grows in Europe, in moist places. The bark and leaves are astringent and bitter; and hence are employed in intermittents, and as a tonic and astringent.

The common alder. The bark contains from 15 to 20 per cent, of tannin; used for astringent gargles, also in diarrhea and hematuria.