Tas. 8253, 
LARIX OCCIDENTALIS. 
Western North America. 
ConrIFERAE. Tribe ABIETINEAE. 
Larix, Mill.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. iii. p. 442. ‘ 
Larix occidentalis, Nutt. Sylva, 1849, vol. ii. p. 148, t. 120; ed. 1865, p. 199, 
t. 120; Sargent in Gard. Chron. 1886, vol. xxv. p. 652, f. 145, et Silva of 
N. Am. 1898, vol. xii. p. 11, t. 594; Kent in Veitch Man. Conf. n. ed. 1900, 
p. 400, f. 104; Elwes & Henry, Trees of Great Brit. & Ireland, vol. ii. p. 895, 
t. iii. ; species ex affinitate L. Lyellii, Parl.,a qua ramulis haud tomentosis, 
foliis longioribus, squamis ovuliferis glabris et conis maturis breviter 
stipitatis differt. 
Arbor saepe usque ad 75 m. alta, trunco 1:8-2'4 m. diametro, coma parva 
anguste pyramidali (Sargent); exempla maxima in hortis britannicis vix 
11 m. alta. Rami dimorphi, brachycladiis multifoliatis. Folia angus- 
tissima, tetragona, utrinque bisulcata, acuta, costa infra alte carinata, 
brachycladiorum longiora, interdum, ut in icone, 5-6 em., sed saepius 
3-4 em. longa, 0°5-0°75 mm. lata, ramorum sterilium rigidiora, usque ad 
1-1°25 mm. lata, omnia saepius canalibus 2 intramarginalibus instructa. 
Strobili (vel flores) masculi subglobosi, circiter 1 em. diametro, Iutei, 
subsessiles, basi squamis (vel bracteis) latis rubiginosis floccoso-ciliatis 
ornata. Strobili (vel flores) feminei ovoideo-oblongi, circiter 2 em. longi. 
Carpella circiter 1 em. longa, longe caudata, cauda viridi acuta, recurva. 
Squamae ovuliferae fere orbiculares, 2-3 mm. latae. Coni maturi subsessiles, 
suberecti, oblongo-cylindrici, magnitudine variabiles, usque ad 4 cm. longi, 
fusci; carpella caudata quam squamae seminiferae longiora. Semina 
oblique alata, 8-10 mm. longa.—Pinus Nuttallii, Parl. in DC. Prodr. 
vol. xvi. 2, p. 412--W. Borrina Hems.ey. 
Lariz occidentalis, according to Professor Sargent, was 
first observed by Lewis and Clark in the forests of the upper 
Clearwater River. It was seen also by D. Douglas in 1827 
near Fort Colville on the upper Columbia, but was mistaken 
by him for the European Larch. Thomas Nuttall therefore 
is to be regarded as its real discoverer; he collected it in the 
Blue Mountains in 1834 and first described it in the place 
cited above. It was first planted in the Arnold Arboretum 
in 1881 and a number of seedlings were sent to Kew by 
Professor Sargent in the autumn of that year. From one 
of these, which is now a tree 36 ft. high with the trunk 
26 in. in girth near the ground, and is one of a group in 
the Pinetum at Kew, the figure now given was prepared. 
Considerable interest is at present being taken in this 
American Larch by British foresters ; it is hoped that it may 
May, 1909. 
