PINACE^ 297 



of Michaux to the present day no American botanist has found 

 any larch but L. americana in E. America. But the statements 

 of Miller and Lambert that the original tree came from America 

 in 1739 are quite clear, whereas, L. americana was not introduced 

 until 1760. Henry's statement that it was in cultivation in 1739 

 is based on the reference to the CoUinson tree, which he elsewhere 

 allows to be L. pendula, and if these facts are correct there can 

 be no question of hybridity. It would indeed be easier to assume 

 that early deforestation had destroyed the American habitat of 

 a distinct species now only known in cultivation. 



The finest tree of L. pendula in the British Isles is at Woburn, 

 and is 90 ft. high and over 7 ft. 6 ins. in gu-th. It was prob- 

 ably planted about 100 years ago. There are smaller trees at 

 Stanage Park, Radnorshire ; Beauport Park, Sussex ; Royston, 

 Yorks ; Murthly ; and at Kew. 



Var. repens, Henry. ^ 



A peculiar form with horizontally creeping branches. There 

 is a plant at Henham, Cambridge, grafted on a European larch 

 stock. 



Larix Potanini, Batalin. 

 Htjng Sha (Red Fir). 



Lax'ix thibetica, Franchet ; L. chinensis, Beissner. 



A tree 20-70 ft. or sometimes 100 ft. high. Bark grey or 

 grey-brown, rough and fissured on old trees. Branches short, 

 horizontal. Branchlets slender, weeping, grey. Young shoots 

 shining orange-brown or purple-brown, slightly hauy, glabrous 

 before the end of the first year, older shoots grey. Terminal 

 buds egg-shaped, resinous ; axillary huds small, spreading, 

 dark-brown, resinous. Leaves f-l| in. long, prommently keeled on 

 both surfaces, four-sided, apex pointed. Cones oblong or ovoid, 

 reddish when young, violet-purple later, ultimately grey or greyish 

 brown, without stalks, up to If in. long and 1 in. wide, apex 

 blunt ; scales numerous, rounded, often with a central notch ; 

 bracts usually longer than the scales, the long points protruding 

 beyond them. Seeds about, | in. long, wing \ in. long, and almost 

 as wide. 



L. Potanini can be distinguished from other larches, except 

 L. Lyallii, by its four-sided leaves, and from L. Lyallii by its 

 less hairy shoots. Its botanical characters place it between L. 

 Griffithii and L. Lyallii. 



Wilson 2 records it from the mountains of Shensi province 

 westward to those of the Chino-Tibetan borderland. It is a 

 common tree around Tatienz-lu at altitudes ranging from 7,500- 

 11,000 ft. He further says, ^ that it is a strikingly handsome tree 



^ Gard. Chron., he. cit. ^Conifers of Japan, p, 29 (1916). 



^ PL Wils. n, p. 19 (1914). 



