PINACE^ 277 



slopes and in river valleys with sandy soil where the roots are 

 able to go deeper." It is unlikely that the tree will have any 

 value in Britain. 



Larix americana, Michaux. 

 Tamarack. 



Larix americana, var. rubra, Loudon ; L. Fraseri, Curtis ; L. intermedia, 

 Loddiges ; L. laricina, C. Koch ; L. microcarjja, Desfontaines ; L. pcndula, 

 Masters (not Salisbury) ; L. tenuifolia, Salisbvu-y ; Abies microcarpa, 

 Poiret ; Pinus laricina, Du Roi ; P. intermedia, Wangenheim ; P. 

 microcarpa, Lambert. American Larch ; Hackmatack ; Black Larch ; 

 White Larch. 



A tree 50-80 ft. high, with a trunk 4—6 ft. in girth. Barh 

 reddish-brown, 1-lf in. thick, peeling off in thin scales. Branches 

 slender, horizontal, forming on old exposed trees an irregularly 

 rounded head. Young trees narrowly pyramidal. Young shoots 

 slender, without down, or with a few scattered hairs in the fissures 

 of the bark ; covered with a bluish bloom, becoming bluish-grey 

 at the end of the first year. Terminal huds rounded, short- 

 pointed, dark red, shining, slightly resinous ; lateral buds very 

 small, rounded, dark brown ; buds of short shoots small, sur- 

 rounded by a circle of hairs. Leaves tliree-sided, very narrow, 

 bright green, blunt, |-l^in. long. Male flowers small, ovoid. 

 Female flowers up to | in. long and J in. wide ; bracts narrow, 

 erect except for the points bending outwards, centre and points 

 pale green, margins red. Cones ovoid, composed of few scales, 

 each about f in. wide and fV in. long, rounded, margins curving 

 inwards. Seeds small with well- developed wings, shed within a 

 few months of ripening. A peculiarity of the species is that the 

 shoot is sometimes prolonged from the centre of the cone, a 

 variation that accounts for the name L. americana, var. p7'olifera 

 {L. prolifera, Malcolm). 



L. americana is sometimes confused with L. pendula, from 

 which it is distinguished by its uniformly smaller cones. 



The tamarack is found wild in E. North America, where it 

 extends from the Arctic Circle southwards to N. Pennsylvania 

 and Cent. Minnesota, reaching an altitude of 4,000 ft. It appears 

 to have been introduced in 1760, and was planted about that 

 date at Whitton by the Duke of Argyll. 



Wood heavy, hard, slow-growing, heartwood reddish-brown, 

 sap wood narrow, yellow The timber shrinks a good deal if not 

 carefully seasoned, is very durable in moist places or in contact 

 with the soil, and is said to be less inflammable than many coni- 

 ferous woods It is used in commerce for the construction of 

 houses and other buildings, for ships, barges, and boats, telegraph 

 and telephone poles, posts and rails, railway sleepers, and is suit- 

 able for paving blocks and other purposes. Lumbermen are 

 said to recognize two varieties of wood, red and white. The 



