Alder
If you speak of alder from the west coast I can tell you a little. It is white when first cut and will only hold that color if cured with steam immediately after milling. Otherwise, it air dries brown. It has no specific noticable grain pattern being a member of the beech family. The good news, alder takes stain very well and is known as the great imitator. It can be stained any color to look like oak, mahogany, walnut etc. It is medium hard but definitely not in the class of the oak. Wet it splits very very easy. Dry, it splits poorly. It does not splinter to speak of when dry. Milling is easy. A great deal of furniture is made of alder and stained to look like cherry, mahogany, etc and sold all over the country. It was once a "weed" in western forests and was sprayed to control it. Today, it often sells in log form at higher prices than doug fir. I cannot tell you how it bends with steam but I see it often in bent back chairs.
I have grown, cut milled, burned, sold, and thrown away thousands of bd ft.