I. 4 THE LARCH. 89 



presents a ready and certain distinction. It is of about half the 

 length and two-thirds the thickness of that of the common fir, 

 and the bracts or transformed leaves inside the scales of the 

 cone, project and are bent back over the scales, and end in a 

 somewhat long point, like the point of a leaf. 



From the great richness and luxuriance of the foliage, the 

 double balsam is a very beautiful tree, and its leaves diffuse a 

 peculiarly agreeable resinous odor. It has been successfully 

 transplanted in Vermont, and, in some instances, in this State, 

 and is valuable as an ornamental tree. 



Mr. Fraser discovered this tree on the high mountains of Caro- 

 lina: and Pursh, who calls it Fraser's Pine, found it on the 

 Broad Mountains in Pennsylvania. I have seen it nowhere 

 in this State, except on the top of Saddleback Mountain. It 

 is found on the Green Mountains, in Vermont, and on Mount 

 Washington, in New Hampshire, and, mingled with the com- 

 mon fir, in the moist woods in Maine. It is a small tree, of the 

 height of thirty feet, with a diameter of twenty inches. 



I. 4. The Larch. Larix. Tourneforte. 



The larches are deciduous trees of cold and mountainous 

 regions of both continents. They are distinguished from the 

 other pines by their leaves, which grow many together, in bun- 

 dles from the top of buds whose scales are as persistent as the 

 leaves. The wood of the larches is remarkable for its hardness 

 and durability. 



I. 4. The Hacmatack. Larix Americana. Michaux. 



Two varieties figured in Lambert's Pinus ; Plates 49, 50. 



Also figured by Michaux ; Sylva, III, Plate 153. 



The tree by Loudon ; Arboretum, VIII, Plates 346, 347. 



The American larch, known very generally in New England 

 by the aboriginal name of hacmatack, is not often, in this State, 

 a tall tree. In deep forests it sometimes attains the elevation 

 of seventy feet, but does not usually exceed half that height. 

 It is distinguished from all others of the family by its crowded 

 13 



