LARIX 7 



pale yellowish grey, not downy. Leaves light green, to i ins. long, linear, 

 with the midrib raised beneath, and with two to four lines of stomata at each 

 side of it. Male flowers red, in. long, egg-shaped. Cones at first reddish, 

 ultimately I to H ins. long, | to I in. wide at the base, tapering slightly 

 towards the top ; scales rounded, downy at the base outside. 



Native of S. and Central Europe, mostly in mountainous regions ; 

 introduced early in the seventeenth century, but first brought into notice as a 

 forest tree in the British Isles by the third and fourth Dukes of Atholl, 

 100 to 150 years later. Two of the oldest, or perhaps the very oldest larches in 

 the British Isles are standing near the old cathedral at Dunkeld, planted there 

 in 1738. No tree ever introduced to Britain has proved of so much value, or 

 been so extensively planted. For many years its economic importance has 

 exceeded that of any other tree even the oak. About the middle of last 

 century it began to be noticeably attacked by a fungoid parasite, known as 

 the " larch blister " or " larch canker." This is Dasyscypha calycina^ and its 

 virulence has increased, so that many plantations have been partially or 

 wholly destroyed. Larches growing in damp, lowland sites, or in pure stands, 

 are more liable to disease than those growing on bleak hill-sides, or mixed 

 with broad-leaved trees. 



As a garden tree the larch has much to recommend it ; in habit it is 

 singularly beautiful when grown as an isolated specimen, the horizontal or 

 upwardly curved branches being furnished with pendulous branchlets. It 

 attains to an imposing height ; its trunk is handsomely coloured, and no tree 

 exceeds it in the beauty and soft tenderness of the young green foliage. 



Two weeping forms are in cultivation : 



Var. PENDULA. A tree with an erect trunk and horizontal branches, 

 but with the pendulous character of the branchlets extremely developed. 



Var. PENDULINA. Wholly pendulous, the tree forming an umbrella- 

 shaped head of branches and branchlets without a leader. 



L. SIBIRICA, Ledebour (L. europsea var. sibirica, London}. Siberian 

 Larch. Although closely allied to the common larch, this may be 

 distinguished by the earlier growth in spring, the longer, more slender leaves, 

 and in the more concave scales of the cone. It appears to have no 

 value in this country. Its early growth renders it very subject to injury by 

 late spring frosts. I have only seen plants a few feet high. 



L. GRIFFITHII, Hooker fil HIMALAYAN LARCH. 



(Bot. Mag., t. 8181.) 



So far as the British Isles are concerned, this larch is only likely to come 

 under the notice of those whose gardens are in the milder counties. 

 Introduced first by Sir Joseph Hooker, in 1848, and by others subsequently, 

 very few trees now exist in the country, and of them the best are at 

 Coldrenick, in Cornwall, and Strete Raleigh, in Devon. In the former place 

 a tree (see Gardeners' Chronicle, Mar. 2, 1907, fig. 56) has attained about 

 as high a stature as it does in Sikkim, being nearly 60 ft. high. From other 

 larches L. Griffithii is well distinguished by the large size of its purplish 

 cones, which are 2\ to 3 ins. long, I to ij ins. diameter, cylindrical, slightly 

 tapering towards the top ; scales roundish obovate, straight cut across 

 the top, downy outside ; bracts yellowish, longer than the scales, the awl- 

 like apex much reflexed, at least \vhen young. The tree has much the habit 

 of common larch, but the branchlets are more markedly pendulous. The 

 young shoots are downy, and the leaves i to i| ins. long. They are very 

 subject to the attacks of the white woolly larch blight, and an occasional 

 spraying with paraffin emulsion during the summer may be necessary to 

 keep the trees in health whilst young. 



Native of Nepal, Sikkim, and Bhutan- 



