The female catkins are in a small cluster above the male catkins. The females are about a quarter of an inch long. That’s fairly tiny and easily overlooked, especially if they are dangling from branches above your head. In the photo, you can see the red styles protruding out from underneath the green scales. This will form a small woody “cone” about an inch long with winged nutlets inside. “Cone” is in parenthesis because it seems that this word is reserved for the fruit of conifers. The “cones” of the alder are referred to as strobiles.
Alders are wind-pollinated and the female flowers do not produce nectar. The insects are drawn to the pollen of the male catkins.
The woody strobiles in the photos are still hanging on the tree from last season.
