2352 ARBOKETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART 111. 



t L. e. 6 fiore rubro. The common Larch, ivith red or pink Flotvers, 

 Holt. Trans., iv. p. 416. — This variety is the most common in ex- 

 tensive plantations of larches. The flowers vary in shade of red or 

 pink, and some of them are more or less mixed with yellow. The 

 cones are also red, or reddish yellow. The majority of the trees in 

 the Duke of Athol's plantations at Dunkeld and Blair have red 

 flowers. 



1f L. e, 7 flore albo. Larch from the Tyrol, with white Flowers, Hort. 

 Trans., 1. c. — The leaves of this variety are not different from those 

 of the common larch ; but the shoots are said to be much stronger ; 

 and the cones white, as well as the flowers. 



5f L.C.8 sibirica ; L. sibirica-Fwc/?. ;? L. archangelica Laws. Man., p. 389. ; 

 L. rossica Sab. in Hort. Soc. Gard. ; Pinus L. sibirica Lodd. Cat. 

 The Russian Larch, Hort. Trans., iv. p. 416. — There are trees of 

 this variety in the Duke of Athol's plantations, raised from seeds 

 procured from Archangel in 1806. The appearance of the tree is 

 said to be coarser than that of L. e. communis : it is of much 

 slower growth than the larches of the Tyrol ; and the leaves come 

 out so early in spring, that they are liable to be injured by frost. 

 The female catkins do not expand their flowers till some time after 

 those of the European larch appear. The cones are like those of 

 the American larch. The bark is quite cinereous, and not distinctly 

 scarred, as in the common larch. This variety. Professor Pallas in- 

 forms us, is found in cold mountainous places, from the Ural Moun- 

 tains northwards, through Siberia and Kamtschatka, to the Pacific 

 Ocean. It delights in a middle station on the sides of mountains, 

 where it is sheltered from the north, and exposed to the east wind, 

 growing in a gravelly or rocky soil. In valleys and marshes, or on 

 the very tops of mountains, it never occurs. It extends as far 

 north as lat. 68°, where it forms a trailing shrub ; but, in the south 

 of Siberia and Russia, it grows to the same height and bulk as the 

 European larch. In the north, it has more the habit of the Ame- 

 rican larch ; but it differs, he adds, from that species very essentially. 

 (Fl. Boss., part i. p. 2.) The Siberian hunters of ermines, Gmelin 

 observes, when their yeast or leaven, which they carry with them 

 to make the acid liquor which they call quass, is spoiled by the cold, 

 scrape off the soft wood, under the bark of the larch, which is 

 very juicy and sweet ; digest it with water over the fire during an 

 hour ; make it into dough with their rye meal, which they bury in 

 the snow ; and, after twelve hours, they find it in a state of ferment- 

 ation, and ready for use. Baudrillart states that an officer employed 

 in the management of the Russian woods informed him that ships 

 of war, of even 120 guns, were built of larch at Archangel; and, of 

 course, other smaller vessels. In consequence of a similar report, 

 the late Duke of Athol procured seeds from Archangel, which he 

 sowed among his plantations of the common larch. The young 

 plants grew vigorously at first; but, in the course of afewyears, they 

 were found very far inferior to the common larch, and, when cut 

 down, to be of very little value. The Siberian larch was introduced 

 into England by Messrs. Loddiges, to whom the seed was sent by 

 Professor Pallas, about the end of the last century. The plant in 

 the Horticultural Society's Garden, after being five years planted, is 

 4 ft. high, with a peculiarly stunted appearance. 

 a4 t L. e. 9 dahiirica ; L. dahurica Laws. Man., p. 389. ; the Dahurian 

 Larch ; is said to be a stunted, bushy, and irregular-growing tree. It 

 is a native of Dahuria, and was first introduced into Britain in 

 1827. It is generally propagated by cuttings or layers, which will 

 account for its stunted appearance. 

 * L. \Q intermedia ; />. intermedia Z/Omwm, p. 389.; Pinus intcrmediaiorfc/. 



