278 TREES 



on the branches, and the leaves are borne in crowded 

 clusters on short lateral spurs, except upon the terminal 

 shoots, where the leaves are scattered remotely but follow 

 the spiral plan. Larch wood is hard, heavy, resinous, and 

 almost indestructible. The tall shafts are ideal for tele- 

 graph poles and posts. 



The Tamarack 



Larix Americana, Michx. 



The tamarack or American larch {see illustration, page 

 263) goes farther north than any other tree, except dwarf 

 willows and birches. Above these stunted, broad-leaved 

 trees pure forests of tamarack rise, covering Northern 

 swamps from Newfoundland and Labrador to Hudson 

 Bay and west across the Rocky Mountains, the trees 

 dwindling in size as they approach the arctic tundras, the 

 limit of tree growth. The wood of these bravest of all 

 conifers is a God-send over vast territories where other 

 supply of timber is wanting. The tough roots of the 

 larch tree supply threads with which the Indian sews his 

 birch canoe. 



In cultivation the American species is too sparse of 

 limb and foliage to compete with the more luxuriant 

 European larch, yet it is often planted. Its fresh spring 

 foliage is lightened by the pale yellow of the globular 

 staminate flowers and warmed by the rosy tips of the 

 cone flowers. In early autumn the plain, thin-scaled 

 cones, erect and bright chestnut-brown, shed their small 

 seeds while the yellow leaves are dropping, and the bare 

 limbs carry the empty cones until the following year. 



