What kind of trees live on the beach?

9 years ago

I collected two foot tall trees from a beach I was camping on near Sault ste Marie. The beach was sand and covered in round rocks. I think they may be alder? There arent any leaves yet or I would post some pictures.

The only thing I can remember seeing growing on a beach and that close to the water was wold rose. I was hoping it was an alder. There was a large shrub near it. It had what looked like super small "cones" along with cat skins.

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Comments (4)

poaky1
9 years ago
I think it will help anyone that can help, if you give the hardiness zone which you would plant the tree in, and where the heck (zone) of Sault ste Marie is. I THINK others may need that info. Sorry I could'nt help with the ID.
Huggorm
9 years ago
Alder use to grow along beaches and have those cone like "fruits" so that is probably a good guess
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
9 years ago
SSMarie .. is above the MI mitten .... the soo locks to lake superior ... apparently they havent even broken dormancy yet ... snow is forecast for late august.. lol ...

it needs to leaf out.. and you need to post a pic to get an ID ...

but my usual default is.. if its invasive enough .. and i use the term loosely ... to survive on a fresh water beach.. one might suggest.. free or not.. it wont be a quality tree ...

i have no clue.. how you jumped to alder on a dormant stick ... i would default to cottonwood or some sort of poplar... if they are up that way ... the real water suckers ... the real weed trees ...

ken
canadianplant
Original Author
9 years ago
Poaky - I think the sault is a clear zone 4.

Ken - When I was there some of the trees in the city were breaking dormancy (about a week or two ago). The box elders already bud burst and so did many of the other maples I saw. The buds on these were swelling.

I grabbed them because alders fix atmospheric nitrogen and feed it to the soil, which is what I need. They are natice here and it should be good for the local wildlife.

I jumped to alder for a few reasons. The mainone being the only plant that looked like it that was close was a shrub about 7 feet tall that was roughly at the same stage of dormancy. It had the same leaf buds, as far as I can tell and same wood.

The biggest give away for me were the "cones" (Fruit) and catskins on that shrub. The fruits are almost a dead give away for an alder. I have never seen a poplar on straight up rocky sand. Alders are also known for liking really wet soil. Im hoping to see how the leaves are when it wakes up.

Lastly.... poplars are cottonwood trees. They are everywhere up here around lake superior but down by the sault they arent as dominant as they are here. In the area we were there were a lot more birch, pine and spruce