388 LARIX. 



distinguish them from all other coniferous trees, and on this 

 ground chiefly the genus Larix has been adopted by most recent 

 authors. Every other character, except the anatomical structure of 

 the wood, is possessed in a greater or less degree in common with 

 one or other of the genera included in the Abietineae. In the 

 crowded fascicles of leaves produced on short arrested branchlets, the 

 Larches agree with the Cedars ; the cones of Larix combine the 

 persistent scales of those of a Picea with the erect or assiirgent 

 position of those of an Abies ; and the staminate flowers conform 

 very nearly to those of a Tsuga. 



The essential characters of Larix in respect of the reproductive 

 organs may be thus formulated : 



Flowers monoecious. Staminate flowers sessile along branchlets of 

 the preceding year, and surrounded at the base by numerous reflexed 

 involucral bracts, globose or ovoid, composed of numerous stamens with 

 short footstalks spirally arranged around a central axis. Anthers 

 two-celled, with a sharply pointed connective ; dehiscence longitudinal. 



Ovuliferous flowers sub-globose on the ends of very short lateral 

 branchlets (sub-sessile), and consisting of numerous suborbicular scales 

 bearing nearly at the base of the ventral face two inverted ovules, 

 and attached to the highly-coloured dorsal face, a linear bract, often 

 much longer than the scale and at first separable from it. 



Cones ovoid, rarely cylindric, obtuse ; scales loosely imbricated, 

 persistent, and bearing on the inner face two winged seeds. Seeds 

 triangular, rounded on the sides. 



The technical distinction of the species is attended with considerable 

 difficulty, in some cases arising chiefly from their extensive distribution, 

 so that local or geographical divergences from what is regarded as 

 the common type are not infrequent. These divergences are for the 

 most part intermediate between two types to which they are 

 geographically adjacent, and thence form a connecting link between 

 them. Instances of such forms have been observed by Hegel, 

 Willkomm and others, connecting Larix europcea with L. sibirica, 

 L. sibirica with L. daliurica, and even L. dakurica with L. leptolepis. 

 These Larches thence constitute a series which must have had a 

 common origin. 



The Larches are northern and even sub-arctic trees, spreading to 

 the limits of arborescent vegetation in both hemispheres, and both 

 in North America and in northern Asia covering immense areas, 

 either forming pure forests or mixed with species of Picea. They also 

 inhabit most of the mountain ranges north of the 45th parallel of 

 north latitude, on which they ascend to the highest vertical limit of 

 arborescent growth. Larix Griffitliii is an outlying species that occurs 

 only on the central and eastern Himalaya. Nearly all the Larches 

 afford valuable timber. 



