PINACEAE. — LARIX 19 



Western Szech'uan: Tachien-lu, forests to west and south- 

 west, alt. 3300-4000 m., July 20, 1908 (No. 910; tree 6-25 m. tall, 

 0.6-3 m. girth); same locality, alt. 2500-3800 m., June and September 

 1904 (Veitch Exped. No. 3009); north-east of Tachien-lu, Ta-p'ao- 

 shan, forests, alt. 3300-4800 m., abundant, July 7, 1908 (No. 903; 

 tree 6-30 m. tall, 1-4 m. girth) ; vicinity of Tachien-lu, Prince Henri 

 d^ Orleans, type of L. thibetica Franchet; west and near Wen-ch'uan 

 Hsien, alt. 2300-3000 m., July 1908 (No. 906=*; tree 10-16 m. tall, 1-2 

 m. girth) ; west of Kuan Hsien, Pan-lan-shan, forests, alt. 2600-3500 

 m., October 1910 (No. 4071; tree 13-25 m. tall, 1-2.5 m. girth); 

 Mupm, forests, alt. 3000-3600 m., September 1910 (No. 4362; tree 6- 

 16 m. tall, 0.5-2 m. girth) ; northeast of Sungpan, Hsueh-pao-ting, 

 forests, alt. 2500-3600 m., common, August 1910, (No. 4729; tree 8- 

 25 m. tall, 1-3 m. girth). Kansu: Lotani, road to Siku Ting, alt. 

 3000-3300 m., 1911, W. Purdom (No. 760) ; Peling-shan, 1911, TT. 

 Purdom (No. 817). Shensi: Tsinling range, Tai-pei-shan, alt. 

 3000-3300 m., 1910, W. Purdom (No. 404; tree 6-10 m. tall). 



This is the common Larch of western Szech'uan where it is found from 2500 m. 

 altitude to the Hmits of arborescent vegetation. At its lowest altitude it occurs 

 sparingly in moist woods and more especially by the sides of streams, in company 

 with other conifers and broad-leaved trees. As the altitude increases it becomes 

 more and more abundant until finally in the high alpine regions it forms forests. 

 In moist, rich woodlands this Larch grows from 25-30 m. tall; the trunk is mast- 

 like and covered with grey and grey-brown bark which is rough and fissured. The 

 branches are slender, relatively short and horizontally spreading; the branchlets 

 are pendulous, shining orange-brown or purplish brown becoming grey in the 

 second or third year. The symmetrical cones are very freely produced and vary 

 in length from 3-4.5 cm. and in color from reddish when young to violet-purple 

 at maturity, afterwards changing to grey-brown or grey. The bracts although 

 varying considerably in size and shape are always exserted, erect, and usually 

 long-acuminate. The seeds ripen the end of June or early in July. With its sym- 

 metrical habit, weeping branchlets and pale, often greyish, green foliage this 

 Larch is a decidedly handsome and striking tree. Colloquially it is known as the 

 " Hung-sha " (Red Fir), and the wood is esteemed the most valuable of all timber 

 in western Szech'uan for general construction work. 



Purdom's No. 404, from the type locality of L. chinensis Beissner, removes all 

 doubt of the identity of that species with L. Potaninii. The species of Larch col- 

 lected in southern Shensi by David (Franchet in Nouv. Arch. Mus. Paris, s^r. 2, 

 VII. 97 {PI. David. 1. 287) (1884), must also be referred to L. Potaninii. 



Pictures of this tree will be found under Nos. 177, 193, 195, 229, 232 of the col- 

 lection of Wilson's photographs and also in his Vegetation of Western China, Nos. 

 279-285. 



Larix Mastersiana Rehder & Wilson, n. sp. 



Arbor 10-20-metralis, trunco 0.3-0.75 m. diam., cortice cinereo- 

 brunneo, irregulariter fisso; rami primarii satis longi, horizontaliter 



