Illustrations of Conifers. 51 



L A R I X. 



DECIDUOUS, irregularly branched trees of pyramidal habit belonging to 

 the tribe Abietineae of the natural order Coniferae. Branchlets pro- 

 ducing both long and short shoots, the former with spirally arranged 

 solitary leaves, the latter consisting of short spurs bearing clusters of 

 leaves. The leaves are deciduous, linear, either flattened or keeled 

 above and always strongly keeled beneath. 



Flowers monrecious, produced by the short shoots. Staminate 

 flowers always more numerous than the females, globose, ovoid or 

 oblong, composed of shortly stalked stamens spirally arranged on a 

 central axis and surrounded by bracts at the base. Female flowers 

 erect, sub-globose, consisting of sub-orbicular imbricated scales, each 

 in the axil of a longer mucronate bract, often very conspicuous 

 by their bright pink or purple colour ; they are however sometimes 

 white. Cones ovoid, always erect, ripening in one season, composed 

 of concave imbricated woody scales which are either shorter or 

 longer than the bracts. Seeds two on each scale, winged. 



The Larches resemble the Cedars in having clustered leaves, but 

 in the latter these are evergreen. The cones diifer much in the 

 two genera. 



About ten species of Larch have been described, natives of the colder regions of the 

 northern hemisphere, often covering great areas and either forming pure forests or mixed 

 with other conifers. They 'are found in Europe, Siberia, China, Japan, Kurile Islands, the 

 Himalayas and North America. Nearly all the Larches furnish valuable timber. 



