LARDIZABALA LARIX 5 



long, the middle one of each trio the largest. They vary much in outline, 

 but are mostly ovate, the lateral ones more or less oblique, and often sessile ; 

 margins shallowly crenate, with here and there a sharply pointed tooth ; 

 leaf-stalks covered with short brown hairs. Flowers unisexual ; males 

 : l in. across, produced in drooping spikes 3 to 4 ins. long from the leaf 

 axils; the sepals form the most striking part of the flower, being broadly 

 ovate, fleshy and dark purple; petals small, narrow, white and mealy. 

 Female flowers on slender stalks i in. long, solitary in the leaf-axils; 

 rather larger than the male. Fruit sausage-shaped, 2 to 3 ins. long ; 

 seeds flattened and about the size of small peas. 



Native of Chile; introduced in 1844, it flowered in the Exeter 

 nursery five years later. Seen in flower, it is very striking. The fruit 

 is sweet, pulpy, and edible, and is said to be sold in the markets of Chile. 

 This climber is essentially one for the milder parts of the kingdom. It 

 is too tender to be satisfactory even on a wall at Kew. 



LARIX. LARCH. CONIFERS. 



Amongst the comparatively few deciduous conifers, the larches stand 

 out as peculiarly well-marked and distinct. They are all trees of timber- 

 producing size, forming an erect, tapering trunk, carrying usually a cone- 

 shaped head of horizontal branches upturned at the ends, and often 

 ultimately pendulous spray. 'As in the cedars the branchlets are of two 

 kinds: (i) elongated slender ones, growing from a few inches to 2 ft. 

 or more yearly, and bearing the leaves singly and spirally; and (2) short, 

 spur-like ones which lengthen a minute fraction of an inch annually, and 

 bear numerous (20 to 40) leaves crowded in a terminal tuft. Leaves 

 linear or needle-like, falling in autumn. Flowers unisexual, both sexes 

 appearing on the one tree. Males globose to cylindrical, made up of 

 numerous yellow-anthered, short-stalked stamens. Females erect, globose, 

 usually red, developing into a cone composed of thin, concave, rounded, 

 very persistent, woody scales ; bracts either protruded or included. Seeds 

 in pairs on each scale, winged, ripening and falling the first autumn. Of 

 its nearest allies, with a similar leaf arrangement : Pseudolarix differs in 

 the much larger, more woody cone-scales falling away early from the 

 central axis ; Cedrus is, of course, evergreen, and its cones much larger. 



The larches are widely spread over the cool parts of the northern 

 hemisphere, often in mountainous regions. They like a fairly good, 

 loamy soil, and an abundant rainfall. One species, L. americana, 

 succeeds in damp spots, but the rest like a well-drained site. They 

 should always, if possible, be raised from seeds, which should be sown 

 evenly and thinly, and slightly covered with soil the common larch out- 

 of-doors, usually in raised beds not more than 4 ft. wide to facilitate 

 weeding, the rarer ones in unheated frames for better protection. They 

 may be planted out permanently at i J ft. high and upwards. Rarer sorts 

 can be grafted in spring on seedlings of the common larch. 



Larches are very liable to be infested with a white woolly insect 

 (Chermes abietis), commonly known as "larch blight." This insect passes 



