CHAPTER VI : THE LARCHES 



Family CoNiFERyt 



Genus LARIX Adans. 



Tall pyramidal trees, with few liorizontal branches. Leaves 

 linear, deciduous ; fascicled except on new shoots. Flowers 

 solitary, monoecious, naked. Fruit annual, woody cones, soli- 

 tary, erect and sessile on the twig. Wood hard, heavy, resinous. 



KEY TO SPECIES 



A. Cones less than i inch long, almost globular; smooth; 

 leaves, 3-angled ; bracts not visible between scales. 



(L. Americana) tamarack 

 AA. Cones more than 6 inches long, oblong, with prominent 

 pointed bracts between scales. 

 B. Leaves 3-angled ; twigs downy at first. 



(L. occidentalis) western larch 

 BB. Leaves 4-angled, blue-green ; twigs hairy. 



(L. Lyallii) alpine larch 



The distinction of the genus Larix is its deciduous habit. One 

 other conifer sheds its leaves every autumn. The clustering of 

 the leaves in fascicles on short lateral spurs is unique also. Only 

 the terminal shoots bear scattered leaves. 



Beside the three North American species there are six Old- 

 World larches — all in the colder latitudes of the Northern Hemi- 

 sphere, except a single Himalayan species. The native species 

 are inferior to exotics in cultivation. The handsomest larch for 

 lawns is L. leptolepis, Murr. {L. Ka^mpferi, Sarg.), a Japanese 

 species with pale blue-green, white-lined leaves. The common 

 larch of Europe, L. decidiia, Mill., is most frequently met with in 

 cultivation here. It is a graceful, pyramidal tree, slender and 

 supple limbed, with a fresh cover of feathery leaves every spring. 

 In autumn the foliage turns yellow before it is shed. The Hima- 

 layan L. GriJJithi is not hardy in the North. It is cultivated in 

 its handsome pendulous forms. 



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