CHAP. CXIII. 



CONI'FER^.. iA^RIX. 



2353 



Cat.^eA. 1836. The intermediate, or Altaian, Larch. — According to 

 Lawson, this variety " seems naturally possessed of a very strong 

 luxuriant habit of growth, with pendulous branches, and very large 

 leaves; but, like many more Siberian or northern Continental 

 plants, it produces its leaves on the first approach of spring, and is 

 therefore very liable to be injured by the cold changeable weather 

 to which this country, in the earlier part of the season, is so liable." 

 (Laws. Man., p. 389.) We have only seen the plant at Messrs. 

 Loddiges's, which is 5 ft. high, with longer leaves than the species, 

 but stunted and unthriving in its general appearance. It was intro- 

 duced in 1816, or before. 

 Other Varieties. L. Frdser'i is included in Comj). Bot. Mag., vol. ii. p. 

 SO-i., in a list of North American plants discovered and introduced by 

 J. Fraser and his son between 1785 and 1817 ; but we know nothing farther 

 of the plant. 



Description. A tree, rising, in favourable situations on the Alps, and also 

 in Britain, from 80 ft. to 100 ft. in height, with a trunk from 3 ft. to 4 ft. in 

 diameter; and having a conical head. It is well described in Lawson's 

 Manual, as having the " branches subverticillate, and spreading horizontally 

 from the straight trunk ; occasionally, however, rather pendulous, particularly 

 when old. Branchlets also more or less pendulous. Leaves linear, soft, 

 blunt, or rounded at the points, 

 of an agreeable light green co- 

 lour ; single or fasciculated ; in 

 the latter case, many together 

 round a central bud ; spreading 

 and slightly recurved. Male 

 catkins without footstalks, glo- 

 bular or slightly oblong; of a 

 light yellow colour ; and, toge- 

 ther with the female catkins, or 

 young cones, appearing in April 

 and the beginning of May ; the 

 latter varying from a whitish to 

 a bright red colour. Cones of 

 an oblong-ovate shape, erect, 

 full 1 in. in length, and of a 

 brownish colour when ripe ; 

 scales persistent, roundish, 

 striated, and generally slightly 

 waved, but not distinctly notch- 

 ed on the margin ; bracteas ge- 

 nerally longer than the scales, 

 particularly towards the base of 



the cones. Seed of an irregular or ovate form, fully i in. long, and more 

 than half-surrounded by the smooth, shining, persistent pericarp. Coty- 

 ledons 5 to 7." (Laws. Man., p. 383.) The cones are ripened abundantly 

 in most parts of Britain, and the tree in many situations in Scotland dis- 

 seminates itself as if it were a native, almost as freely as the Scotch pine. 

 The tree, in its native habitats, is of a remarkably healthy and vigorous con- 

 stitution, and particularly so, De CandoUe remarks, in the trunk. Larches 

 are, he says, rarely attacked by theiJermestes (Hylurgus, see p. 214.), which 

 is so formidable to pines and firs. (Quart. Joitrn. of Agr., v. p. 405.) The 

 wood of the larch is compact, and of a reddish or brown tinge; and, on 

 favourable soils, is said to be fit for every useful purpose in 40 years' growth ; 

 while that of the pinaster requires 60 years, and the Scotch pine 80 years. 

 The greatest drawback to the wood of the larch is its liability to warp. At 

 Blair Adam, Ballindalloch, and other places, the tree springs up from seeds 



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