1054 ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 



Spec. Char., fyc. Leaves fascicled, deciduous. Cones ovate-oblong ; scales 

 reflexed at the margin, lacerate ; bracteoles panduriform. Leaves linear, 

 soft, 1 in. long, Cone from 1 in. to \\ in. long, erect. A tall, pyramidal, 

 deciduous tree. Alps of the South of Europe. Height 80ft. to 100ft. In 

 cultivation in Britain since 1629. Flowering in March or April ; and ripen- 

 ing its cones in the autumn of the same year. 



Varieties. All the larches in cultivation are, probably, only different forms of 

 the same species ; but, as the American larches, which have small fruit, 

 come tolerably true from seed, we shall treat them as one species, and the 

 European larch as another. The latter is characterised by large cones, rapid 

 growth, and robust habit ; and the former by small cones, slow growth, and 

 slender habit, 



It L. e. I communis Laws. Man. p. 386. Branches " aspiring towards 

 their points ; branchlets very numerous, and forming a dense conical 

 or pyramidal top ; foliage of a light grassy or vivid green ; and bark 

 rather more rugged than that of L. e. 2 laxa." 



t L. e. 2 laxa Laws. 1. c. " True specimens of this variety may easily 

 be distinguished from the others when in nursery rows, by their 

 more rapid growth, more horizontal and less crowded branches, and 

 by the darker green, or somewhat glaucous, colour of the foliage." 

 L. e. 3 compdcta Laws. 1. c. " In habit of growth, the tree is conical 

 or pyramidal, like the common larch ; but its branches are very brittle, 

 or easily broken from the trunk : numerous, horizontal, or slightly 

 bent down near the base ; aspiring afterwards, and the larger ones 

 are finally erect towards the point, with pretty regularly verticillate 

 branchlets ; towards the centre of the tree, however, these are pen- 

 dulous, arid remarkably thickly interwoven with one another." 

 *t L. e. 4 pendula Laws. 1. c. " Distinguished by the very pendulous 

 habit of its branches, which somewhat resemble those of L. ameri- 

 cana pendula ; from which, however, it differs in the greater length 

 of its leaves, and the larger size of its cones." A native of the Ty- 

 rolese Alps. L. e. pendula Godsdl/ii Gard. Mag. vol. xv. p. 549., 

 and the figure there given, is a sub-variety ; or, more probably, identi- 

 cal with this variety. It was selected by Mr. Godsall from a bed of 

 seedlings of the common larch. L. e. repcns Laws. 1. c. is another 

 sub-variety. The branches spread along the ground to a great dis- 

 tance. A tree at Henham Hall, Suffolk, planted about 1800, at 

 the height of 8 ft. sends out its branches horizontally, and these, 

 being supported, extend north and south over a covered way more 

 than 80 ft. in length, and 16 ft. in width. Another branch extends 

 to the west about 8 ft. ; and on the east the branches droop to the 

 ground and form a perfect curtain, as they do also on the west side. 

 (See Gard. Mag., vol. xv. p. 626.) 



L. e. b fibre rubro Hort. Trans, iv. p. 416. The flowers vary in 

 shade of red or pink, and some of them are more or less mixed with 

 yellow. The cones are also red, or reddish yellow. The majority 

 of the trees in the Duke of Athol's plantations at Dunkeld and 

 Blair have red flowers. 



L. e. 6 fibre dlbo. Larch from the Tyrol, with white Flowers, Hort. 

 Trans. 1. c. The leaves of this variety are not different from those 

 of the common larch ; but the shoots are said to be much stronger ; 

 and the cones white, as well as the flowers. 



% L. e. 7 sibirica. L. sibirica Fisch. ; ? L. archangelica Laws. Man. 

 p. 389. ; L. rossica Sab. in Hort. Soc. Gard. ; Pinus L. sibirica 

 Lodd. Cat.; the Russian Larch, Hort. Trans, iv. p. 416. There 

 are trees of this variety in the Duke of Athol's plantations, raised 

 from seeds procured from Archangel in 1806. The appearance of 

 the tree is said to be coarser than that of L. e. communis. It is of 

 much slower growth than the larches of the Tyrol ; and the leaves 



