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

Crab-apples still hung, withered red, on the trees, and the hips of the wild roses and haws of the hawthorns, and the black alder berries, made little blurs of scarlet in the swamps.

From A Northern Countryside by Richards, Rosalind

The cranberry vines and huckleberry bushes were pure crimson, the black alder berries scarlet, and the ferns burnt-orange.

From A Northern Countryside by Richards, Rosalind

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

Bushes of black alder, with a few poplars and twining shrubs, are scattered over the beaver meadows; some of which have high stony banks; and little islands of trees.

From Lady Mary and her Nurse by Traill, Catharine Parr Strickland