From wetland wonder to Woodstock: in praise of the alder tree

Plantwatch pays tribute to a water-resistant species whose uses range from flood defence to Hendrix's Fender Stratocaster

Weeks of rain, more expected and many fields left flooded. But in the defence against flooding, the alder tree can play a vital role, helping to soak up big rainfalls and slowing down the flow of water.

Alder is a tree of wetlands that grows on riverbanks, fens, floodplains and marshes. It doesn't rot in water - its wood hardens in water and can survive submerged for centuries - and much of Venice is built on alder piles driven into the silt of the lagoon. This was also a traditional wood used for building boats, sluice gates and shoring up riverbanks and canal banks.

Alder is also a pioneer species, one of the first trees that recolonised Britain at the end of the last ice age, and its roots have nodules that are home to bacteria that capture nitrogen gas and so the tree helps to improve soil fertility. It can also absorb toxic heavy metals from the ground and helps restore waste industrial land.

But possibly its most famous use is in the bodies of upmarket electric guitars, best known in the Fender Stratocaster that Jimi Hendrix played at the Woodstock music festival in 1969.