NEW CHINESE LARCH 145 



Dahurica of England's growth, which is now to be 

 re-called the L. Pendula — and its impersonator or 

 variety the L. Alaskensis. Other Dahurian affinities 

 and varieties quoted are the L. Principis Rupprechtii, 

 a large-coned variety, and the L. Japonica or Kam- 

 tschatica. This tree has a reddish-brown pubescence, 

 in contrast to the almost glabrous and whiter branch- 

 lets of the Asiatic Dahurian. 



Tw^o more about complete the list of these per- 

 plexities. One is the L. Chinensis mentioned by Elwes 

 and Henry. It is described as of nearest affinity to 

 the L. Occidentalis and grows at high elevations. 

 Another, the L. Cajanderi, was discovered in 1897 in 

 E. Siberia — a swamp-loving tree, possibly a variety 

 of L. Dahurica, but showing tufts of white pubescence 

 absent in L. Dahurica. 



This is only a collection of the latest things in names 

 of Larches, and some of the superscriptions written 

 over them by discoverers, tentative travellers, and 

 prima-facie observers. It has no pretence to be any 

 sort of contribution towards an unravelled subject, 

 which at some future day will stand in need of a 

 thorough-going sifting and a putting into right 

 places b}^ eminent authorities, before the world at 

 large will have a chance of becoming wiser on the 

 question. 



IDENTIFICATION OF THE VARIOUS LARCHES 



We now approach the perplexing questions : How 

 are ordinarily observant humans to arrive at even a 

 rough-and-ready estimate of the various members 

 of the Larch family ? 



There are, in the first place, the leaves, whether 

 keeled on both surfaces or only on the lower; how 

 many in a bundle, length and breadth or shape of 



