LARIX 29 



Key to the Species 



1. Native tree- mature cones 1-1.5 cm. long L. laricina 



2. Cultivated tree; mature cones 2.5-3.5 cm. long L. decidna 



Larix laricina (Du Roi) Koch 1873 Tamarack, American Larch 



L. americana Michaux 1803 



A tree about 12-18 m. (40-60 ft.) high and 3-5 dm. in diameter at 

 the base; bark rough, scaly; leaves triangular in section, 15-30 mm. long, 

 bright green turning golden yellow in the fall, very soft and flexible ; 

 young cones red or greenish ; cones with 10-20 scales, oval, not over 2 cm. 

 in length : laricina, larch-like. 



A tree usually inhabiting cold swampy ground, but occasionally found 

 in drier situations and then reaching its largest size; northern North 

 America from Labrador and Newfoundland to the Yukon valley, south- 

 ward to New Jersey, Minnesota, and northeastern British Columbia. 

 Abundant in Minnesota in the northeastern coniferous forest, where it 

 usually grows with black spruce, and southward in sour swamps scattered 

 throughout the hardwood region of eastern Minnesota, as far south as 

 Minneapolis and the region around Lake Minnetonka. It does not occur 

 native south of the Minnesota river. Flowers in April or early May, 

 cones ripe in the autumn of the same year. 



In cultivation the tamarack grows well in soil much drier than that 

 which it naturally inhabits. It is not however as handsome or graceful a 

 tree as the European larch. 



' Wood light brown, hard, coarse, resinous, very strong and durable, 

 weight 39 pounds; much used for fence posts and fuel. 



Larix decidua Miller 1768 Larch 

 L. europaea De Candolle 1805 

 L. Larix (Linne) Karsten 1882 



A tree about 12 m. (40 ft.) high and 5 dm. in diameter at the base; 

 branches spreading, young twigs somewhat drooping ; bark rough and 

 scaly; leaves 20-25 mm. long, bright green, soft and flexible, turning 

 yellow in autumn; young cones scarlet, cones with 40 or more scales, ob- 

 long or conical, 2.5-4 cm. long. 



Cultivated : a tree from the mountainous parts of Europe, growing 

 well in dry soil. It is planted as an ornamental tree and does well in 

 situations too dry for any of the evergreen conifers except the red cedar. 



