Spaeth's Alder is a rapid growing tree for streets, parks or landscapes. A nice alternative to Fraxinus pennsylvanica. Large leaves are serrated, coppery-purple in the spring and lustrous green in summer. Likes normal to moist soil but can tolerate dry conditions when established and will grow well in poor soils due to its nitrogen fixing ability. It is wind, salt and pollution tolerant. Widely used in Europe, it is a hybrid of Japanese Alder (A. japonica) and Caucasian Alder (A. subcordata) that is named after the botanist Franz Späth from Berlin, Germany.