CONIFEES OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION. 3 



Canadian Provinces, from which it extends westward to southern 

 Llaska. The other two species inhabit northwestern United States 

 xtending northward also into Canada. A fourth species, not now 

 ully known, is possibly confined to Alaska.^ 



The larches are of ancient origin, several European species having 

 xisted since the Miocene period. The European larch {Larix 

 uro'pxa) appears in the upper Pliocene of Europe and is represented 

 hroughout the Pleistocene, while our eastern larch (Larix laricirm) 

 3 common in this country during the Pleistocene period.* 



TAMARACK. 



Larix laricina (DuRoi) Koch. 



COMMON NAME AND EARLY HISTORY. 



Larix laricina is most commonly known throughout its range as 

 amarack, particularly among woodsmen. Sometimes it is also 

 ;aUed larch, black larch, red larch, and hackmatack. 



Tamarack was one of the first of our conifers to become known, 

 he earliest report of it being as a tree cultivated in England in 1735.^ 

 rhe early French Jesuit missionary and historian Charlevoix saw 

 he tamarack in eastern Canada and gave the first complete pub- 

 ished account of it in 1744 ^ ("Larix canadensis, longissimo folio")- 

 however, the earhest mention of this species is doubtless by John 

 rosselyn,^ who describes the great lasting qualities of a "Larch tree" 

 )bserved in New England in 1667, which can be none other than our 

 ,amarack. The first technical description and (polynomial) desig- 

 lation^ of tamarack was jjublished in 1770, while the first technical 

 )inomial designation, Pinus laricina DuRoi^ was pubhshed in 1771. 

 rhe technical name Larix laricina (DuRoi) Koch, now properly 

 naintained for this tree, was established in 1873.^° 



3 See Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, vol. 50, p. 174, PL XVII, 1907; Forest Trees of the Pacific 

 Slope, p. 74, fig. 2SA, 1908 (U. S. Dept. Agr.). 



* The author is indebted for this informa,tion to Dr. Edward W. Berry, paleontologist of lohn Hopkins 

 Jniversity. 



6 Aiton, Hortus "Kewensis, III , 369, 1789. 



« Histoire de la Nouvelle France (ed. 12 mo.) IV, 371, fig. 22, 1744. 



' An Account of Two Voyages to New England, 68, 1673. 



8 "Pinus Larix Americana nigra", Muenchhausen, Hausv., V, 226, 1770. 



3 0hs. Bot., 49, 1771. 



w William Aiton (Hort. Kew. Ill, 369, 1789) says that this larch was cultivated in England in 1735. 



According to Loudon (Arb. et. Frut., IV, 2401, 1838), a form of this larch ("Larix a. pendula") was in- 

 xoduce^"^. into England by Peter Collinsonin 1739, while another form ("Larix a. rubra") was introduced 

 3y the Duke of Argyle in 1760, the latter tree having attained a height of 40 or 50 feet in 77 years. Ehves 

 md Henry (The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland, II, 394, 1907) say that modern Enghsh arboriculturists 

 lave entirely neglected this tree. Only a few trees are now known in England, the largest being from 50 

 to 78 feet high and from IS to 20 inches in diameter. 



Larix laricina is httle used as an ornamental tree in the United States, probably because it is believed 

 the tree can not be grown outside of its natural habitat in wet, mucky ground. It is, however, welladapted 

 to rich, sandy or gravelly upland soils that are fairly moist and deep. Under such conditions it grows 

 rapidly and to a large size and has a beautiful symmetrical form. 



