The Larches 



soluble form of starch, the Indians find this wax a very nutritious 

 article of food. 



The Western larch shows little merit as an ornamental tree 

 on the eastern side of the continent. In Europe it does better, 

 and is planted for timber as well as for ornament. I cannot 

 grieve that this magnificent wild tree scorns to adapt itself, or 

 even its seedlings, to the compass of a sunny suburban lawn in 

 the East. People who truly wish to know it must go to the 

 wild forest parks we own in the great Northwest. There waits 

 for us with infinite patience (and an indifference quite as large), 

 the grandest larch tree in the world! 



The Alpine Larch {Larix Lyallii , Pari.) is a slender tree of 

 the high tablelands of the Northwest, balancing itself on rocky 

 ledges, and seeming to choose the most exposed and forbidding 

 situations. It climbs to the very limit of tree growth, and pre- 

 sents a more irregular form than either of its relatives. The 

 tough limbs divide at intervals, throwing out several branches 

 at the same point. These differ in strength and size. The twigs 

 are covered with white, hairy fuzz which is shed at the end of the 

 second winter. The bark of the twigs then darkens for a period 

 of several years and becomes almost black. On the trunk the 

 bark is reddish and loosely scaly. The leaves are stiff and sharp, 

 blue-green and distinctly 4-angled. The cones have their scales 

 far surpassed in length by the tip of the bract. The hairiness of 

 the cones is conspicuous. 



The Alpine larch never grows below an altitude of 4,000 

 feet. It ranges from Montana west to the coast and north into 

 the British possessions. 



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