Tree · Betulaceae
Hazel alder
Alnus serrulata
Hazel alder is recorded as native to 29 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 884 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Hazel alder at a glance
- Native in
- 884 counties, across 29 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 5a PLANTS minimum temperature −23°F
- Mature height
- 30 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) High water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 5a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −23°F; zone 5a winters bottom out at −20°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Hazel alder is recorded as native to 29 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 884 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 884 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 65 counties
- Arkansas 55 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 2 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 21 counties
- Georgia 46 counties
- Illinois 10 counties
- Indiana 1 county
- Kentucky 72 counties
- Louisiana 23 counties
- Maine 9 counties
- Maryland 1 county
- Massachusetts 13 counties
- Mississippi 36 counties
- Missouri 47 counties
- New Hampshire 8 counties
- New Jersey 21 counties
- New York 27 counties
- North Carolina 81 counties
- Ohio 42 counties
- Pennsylvania 58 counties
- Rhode Island 5 counties
- South Carolina 28 counties
- Tennessee 55 counties
- Texas 22 counties
- Vermont 4 counties
- Virginia 100 counties
- West Virginia 31 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Shrub, Tree
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 30 ft
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth form
- Multiple Stem
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- High water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- High
- Precipitation range
- 32 to 60 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 5 to 7
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Low
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 24 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −23°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 5a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 120
- Fire tolerance
- High
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Not recorded
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- Medium
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Betulaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- ALSE2
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Alnus serrulata (PLANTS symbol ALSE2).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources