DENDROLOGY. 



193 



Monoecia Monadelphia. Linn. 



LARIX. 



Conifer. Juss. Expectorant, secernant, 

 stimulant. 



American Larch. Larix Americana. 



In the north of the United 

 States this tree is commonly 

 designated by the name of 

 Hackmatack, but we have 

 preferred that of American 

 Larch, which is not unknown 

 where the other is habitually 

 used. The French Cana- 

 dians call it Ejpinette rouge. 

 This tree is most abundant 

 in Vermont, New Hampshire 

 and the state of Maine ; but 

 though the soil is well adapted 

 to its growth, and the winter 

 is long and severe, it does 

 not form a hundredth part 

 of the resinous growth, which 

 consists principally of the black and the hemlock spruce and the 

 red cedar. It grows in the Canadas, and extends as far north 

 as Lake St. John, where it begins to abound, and to form masses 

 of woods, some of which are several miles in extent. It is 

 profusely multiplied also in Newfoundland, New Jersey, Penn- 

 sylvania and the coldest and most gloomy exposures in the 

 mountainous tracts of Virginia, which are the limits of its 

 appearance towards the south : but it is rare in these states, and 

 in lower Jersey it is seen only in the swamps of white cedar, 

 with which it is scantily mingled. In Vermont, New Hampshire 

 and Maine it grows only in low and moist places, and never on 

 uplands, as about Hudson's Bay and in Newfoundland ; hence 

 we may conclude that the climate of the northern part of the 

 United States is too mild for its constitution. 



25 



PLATE XLV1U. 

 Fig. 1. A branch with leaves and cones. 



