Alder Tree and colors

Research into the alder tree (in the original story of the elverkonge datter, the Elf King and his daughter lived in a forest of alder trees) has led me to some startling realizations of the connection between the alder tree and Pale Fire.

The dyes extracted from the alder tree are green and red in color. The greed dye is associated with fairy clothing (most notably the Green Man, the Green Giant, the Green Knight, etc) and therefore, of course, it is associated with the Elf King. It is also seen in Pale Fire in a few places. Iris Aucht's painting is in the green room of a theater, and one of the professors at Wordsmith is Gerald Emerald. In folklore, the red dye from the alder tree was used to paint the paces of the sacred kings, of which the Elf King would certainly be included. Red is found in line 398 of Shade's poem when he writes about Hazel's death. She sees the neon-barred puddles in the street after her date leaves her but before she dies.

The alder tree itself has several references to the words 'pale fire.' When freshly cut, the wood is a very pale color, then turns red (like fire) after time. The wood is not good for large flame, but it is the best wood to use for charcoal, and the embers are like a pale fire. In the Celtic lunar year, alder is the third tree of the calendar, and coincides with the Fire Moon. (And Fire Moon is just Pale Fire backwards, like redips and redwop.) This is why the alder tree was considered by the Celts as a tree of fire, even though it is not used to produce flame. Since the moon steals its pale fire from the sun, the alder is an appropriate tree for Pale Fire.

Most of my information about alder trees comes from this site:

http://www.druidry.org/obod/trees/alder.html