Illustrations of Conifers. 53 



LARIX AMERICANA (Mlchaux). TAMARACK. 



Veitch's Man. Conif. ed. 2, p. 889 (1900). 



Trees of Great Britain and Ireland. Vol. II. p. 392 (1907). 



A MEDIUM sized tree of pyramidal habit, attaining in America a height 

 of 80 feet with a slender trunk about 6 feet in girth. Bark exfoliating 

 in thin scales. 



Branchlets slender, glabrous, sometimes glaucous, or sparingly 

 pubescent in the grooves. Leaves short, light green in colour, not 

 more than lj inches long, flat or rounded above, strongly keeled 

 beneath, with two bands of stomata. 



Cones small, composed of three or four rows of spirally-arranged 

 scales, carmine when young, reddish-brown when mature ; scales longer 

 than broad, about two-fifths of an inch long, shining, striated, the 

 upper margin rounded and bevelled. Bract concealed, minute. Seed 

 with a wing about ^ inch long. 



Larix americana is widely spread in the Dominion of Canada, 

 occurring as far north as Labrador and the Arctic circle and extending 

 westward to the Rocky Mountains. It also occurs in the northern 

 part of the United States, through New England, New York, to Penn- 

 sylvania and West Virginia, and in Minnesota, Indiana and Illinois. 

 It often grows in swamps. According to London it was introduced 

 by the Duke of Argyll in 1760. It seems to be rare in cultivation. 



Young trees were added to the Bayfordbury collection in 1907 

 and are growing rapidly. The branch photographed was obtained 

 from Dropmore where there is a well-grown specimen. 



