280 A HANDBOOK OF CONIFERS 



Larix dahurica, Turczaninow. ^ 

 Dahurian Larch. 



Larix daviirica, Trautvetter. 



A tree 60-80 or sometimes 100 ft. high. Bark brown on old 

 trees. Young shoots without down or more or less clothed with 

 reddish hairs. Buds of long shoots rounded, non-resinous, points 

 of scales free, those of short shoots covered with down. Leaves 

 |-1 long, blunt and rounded at the apex, or narrowing to a 

 short, blunt point, keeled below, stomata conspicuous on the 

 under- surface. Male flowers globular, about ^ in. long. Female 

 flowers not seen. Cones f-1 in, long ; scales, few, woody, thin 

 near the apex. Seeds small. 



According to Wilson ^ this is the type of a group of E. Asiatic 

 larches found in Siberia, Corea, Manchuria, etc., which vary 

 considerably in the degree of hairiness of the young shoots, the 

 length of the leaves, and the size of the cones. The large cones 

 and long leaves of L. Prmcvpis Rupprechtii are found at one 

 extreme, and the intensely hairy shoots, small leaves, and small 

 cones of L. kurilensis and L. olgensis at the other. For con- 

 venience these three trees are kept separate from L. dahurica 

 in this work, although collectors report that they are linked up 

 by many intermediates. It is stated to have been introduced 

 in 1827. 



The wood of L. dahurica appears to be very similar to slow- 

 grown wood of L. europcea, and to be of value for similar purposes. 



It is little grown in Britain and is not well suited to our 

 climatic conditions. Opening its leaves very early in spring, it 

 is liable to injury by frost. No large trees of it are known in 

 cultivation in this country. 



Larix eurolepis, A. Henry. 

 DuNKELD Larch. 



Larix Henryana, Rehder, 



A vigorous tree 40 ft, and upwards in height. Young shoots 

 yellow, without down or shghtly hairy, faintly glaucous. Buds 

 light reddish-brown, without resin, terminal buds sxu-rounded 

 with acute or mucronate scales, axillary buds very slightly over- 

 lapped at the base by the subtending leaf-base. Leaves up to 

 1| in. long, broader than in L. europcea, pointed or blunt, with a 

 glaucous bloom and two bands of grey stomata beneath. Female 

 flowers pink, as in L. europcea, but with the bracts more distinctly 

 recurved, as in L. leptolepis. Cone conical as in L. europcea, but 



^ The larch, described as L. dahurica by Elwes and Henry, loc. cit. ii, 379 

 (1907), is mainly L. pendula, Salisbury. 

 ^Pl. Wils. ii, p. 21 (1914). 



