black alder

American  

noun

1. Also called winterberry.  a holly, Ilex verticillata, of eastern and midwestern North America, bearing red fruit that remains through early winter.

2. a European alder, Alnus glutinosa, having a dark-gray bark and sticky foliage.

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Etymology

Origin of black alder

An Americanism dating back to 1795–1805

Example Sentences

Winter floods are also becoming more frequent, with less flooding in spring, causing large areas of floodplain meadows, marshes, old lakes, wet oak and black alder forests to dry out.

From The Guardian • Mar. 6, 2020

And once she went to break a bough    Of black alder.

From The Second Book of Modern Verse; a selection from the work of contemporaneous American poets by Rittenhouse, Jessie Belle

One part of the road ran through a low, moist spot bordered by a thicket of black alder, and into this the cow pushed her way, and stood quietly.

From St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and Girls, Vol. 8, May 1878, No. 7. An Illustrated Magazine for Young Folks by Various

Beautiful bright red berries, dotted or clustered along the naked twigs of the black alder, add an indispensable cheeriness to the somber winter landscape.

From Wild Flowers An Aid to Knowledge of Our Wild Flowers and Their Insect Visitors by Blanchan, Neltje

The stem of the black alder arrives at a great size.

From Oregon and Eldorado or, Romance of the Rivers by Bulfinch, Thomas