146 TREES OF MINNESOTA. 



seedlings will start readily, but if moved after the plants have 

 started they are very likely to fail. 



Larix laricina. (L. americana. ) Tamarack. Ameri- 

 can Larch. Hackmatack. 



Leaves to i of an inch long, slender and thread-like, 

 light bluish green, deciduous. Cones i to 1 inch long, ovoid. 

 A slender, graceful tree 30 to 100 feet high with close or at 

 length slightly scaly bark. 



Distribution. Northeastern United States, north of Penn- 

 sylvania, nearly or quite to the Arctic regions and west 

 nearly to central Minnesota; rare farther south than Ramsey 

 and Hennepin counties in Minnesota. It covers vast areas of 

 swampland in the northern part of this state with a short 

 stunted growth. It fails to reach large size in very wet land, 

 while on land that is not excessively wet it grows 100 feet 

 high and 16 inches through at the stump. In one instance a 

 stunted Tamarack growing on excessively wet land had been 

 48 years in attaining a diameter of 1 1-10 inches, while on 

 land well adapted to it a tree had grown to the height of 44i 

 feet with a diameter of 11 inches in 38 years. 



Properties of wood. Heavy, hard, strong, rather coarse 

 grained, compact, durable in contact with the soil; color light 

 brown; sapwood nearly white. Specific gravity 0.6236; weight 

 of a cubic foot 38.86 pounds. 



Uses. The Tamarack may occasionally be used for 

 variety in lawn planting on moist soil and is well adapted to 

 planting along lake shores and around sloughs, but on dry 

 soil it is of little value and we have many far more valuable 

 trees for moist soils. The lumber is largely used in ship 

 building, for fence posts, telegraph poles, railway ties, etc. 

 The inner bark of European Larch is used in medicine and it 

 is probable that the bark of our American species has similar 

 medicinal properties. Two varieties varying in color of 

 heartwood, the red and the white Tamarack, are commonly 

 distinguished. The difference is probably one of age only; 

 the red hearted trees having the more heartwood make the 

 more durable lumber. This tree grows fast and readily 

 renews itself from seed; for these reasons good Tamarack 



