194 SYLVA AMERICANA. 



The American larch is a magnificent vegetable with a straight, 

 slender trunk 80 or 100 feet in height and 2 or 3 feet in diameter. 

 Its numerous branches, except near the summit, are horizontal 

 or declining. The bark is smooth and polished on the trunk and 

 lower limbs, and rugged on the lower branches. The leaves are 

 flexible, and collected in bunches : they are shed in the fall and 

 renewed in the spring. The flowers like those of the pines, are 

 separate upon the same tree : the male aments, which appear 

 before the leaves, are small, oblong and scaly, with two yellow 

 anthers under each scale : the female flowers are also disposed 

 in aments, and are composed of floral leaves covering two ovaries, 

 which in process of time become small, erect, scaly cones three 

 or four lines long. At the base of each scale lie two minute 

 winged seeds. On some stocks the cones are violet-colored in 

 the spring instead of green ; but this is an accidental variation, 

 for the trees are in no other respect peculiar. 



The wood of the American larch is superior to any species of 

 pine or spruce : it is exceedingly strong and singularly durable. 

 In Canada it is considered as the most valuable timber, and has 

 no fault except its weight. In the state of Maine it is esteemed 

 more than any other species of resinous wood for the knees of 

 vessels, and is always used for this purpose when proper pieces 

 can be obtained. This wood is justly appreciated in the United 

 States, but it is little employed because it is rare and may be 

 replaced with other species which are cheaper and more 

 abundant. 



