LARIX LAITRELIA 9 



years ago. It is never likely to rival the European one in size. In the 

 garden it is worth growing as an isolated specimen or in a small group, being 

 very distinct from the common larch in the greater thickness and length of 

 the branches, and in the broader cones and leaves. 



L. OCCIDENTALS, Nuttall. WEST AMERICAN LARCH. 

 (Bot. Mag., t. 8253.) 



A tree 100 to 200 ft. high, with a narrow, pyramidal head, and a trunk 

 sometimes 6 to 8 ft. in diameter ; bark scaling. On some of the young trees 

 at Kew the young shoots are smooth, on others downy. Leaves i^ to if ins. 

 long, scarcely distinguishable from those of common larch. Cones oblong to 

 egg-shaped, about \\ ins. long, f in. wide ; the scales thin, rounded, reflexed 

 at the margin. The cone is rendered very distinct by the conspicuous tongue- 

 like apex of the bracts protruding horizontally \ in. or more beyond the scales. 



Native of Western N. America, from British Columbia southwards. In 

 N. Montana, in the neighbourhood of Flat Head Lake, it is, according to 

 Sargent, sometimes 250 ft. high. It is, . therefore, the most magnificent of all 

 larches, and as it produces a fine timber it deserves a thorough trial under 

 forest conditions in this country. It was introduced to Kew in 1881 by Prof. 

 Sargent, and trees there are now about 40 ft. high, with shapely trunks and 

 short branches, in general appearance very like the common larches close by, 

 except for the prominent bracts of the cones alluded to above and the more 

 slender habit. For many years these were the only trees in the country, but 

 a considerable quantity of seed has lately been imported from which thousands 

 of thriving young trees have been raised. Inhabiting the same geographical 

 region as L. occidentalis is 



L. LYALLII, Parlatore. LyalFs Larch. This is a tree 40 to 50, occasionally 

 Soft, in height. Its cones resemble those of L. occidentalis in having conspicu- 

 ously protruded bracts, but it is quite distinct in other respects. The young 

 wood is densely woolly, almost felted, the leaves four-sided, cones up to 2 ins. 

 long, with the scales distinctly fringed, pink when young. A few small plants 

 have been introduced, but they have a miserable appearance, and the species 

 does not give any promise as yet of succeeding in the British Isles. 



L. POTANINI, Batalin. WESTERN CHINESE LARCH. 



(Gardeners' Chronicle, 1906, i., fig. 68.) 



A tree 60 to 70 ft. high ; young shoots yellowish and slightly downy. 

 Leaves I in. long, pointed, somewhat four-sided through the prominence of the 

 midrib above and below. Cones egg-shaped, about \\ ins. long, f to i in. 

 wide, rounded at the top ; scales rounded, downy outside ; bracts protruded. 



Native of W. China ; introduced for Messrs Veitch by Wilson from the 

 neighbourhood of Tatien-lu in 1904. Young trees are thriving in the Coombe 

 Wood nursery and at Kew. Judging by a figure of the tree as it grows in 

 China (see Ketu Bulletin^ 1910, p. 174), it has much the general aspect of the 

 common larch. Wilson says it yields the most valuable timber in W. China. 

 It differs from all other larches except L. Lyallii in the leaves being ridged on 

 both surfaces, and from that species in the only slightly downy young twigs. 



LAURELIA SERRATA, Philippi. MONIMIACE^i. 

 (Bot. Mag., t. 8279 ; L. aromatica, Masters not Poiret?) 



An evergreen tree with square, downy young stems. Leaves leathery, 

 opposite, narrowly oval, 2\ to 5 ins. long, i to 2^ ins. wide; tapered at 

 II B 



