222 



American Larch. 



AMERICAN LARCH. 



Larix americana. 



In the north of the United 

 States this tree is commonly 

 designated by the name of 

 Hackmatack^ but we have 

 preferred that of American 

 Larch^ which is not unknown 

 where the other is habitually 

 used. The French Cana- 

 dians call it Epinette rouge. 

 This tree is most abundant 

 in Vermont, New Hampshire 

 and the state of Maine; but 

 though the soil is well adapted 

 to its growth, and the winter 

 is long and severe, it does 

 not form a hundredth part of 

 the resinous growth, which 

 consists principally of the 

 Fig. 1. A Branch with leaves and cones black and the hemlock spruce 

 and the red cedar. It grows in the Canadas, and extends as far 

 north as Lake St. John; here it begins to abound, and to form 

 masses of woods, some of which are several miles in extent. It is 

 profusely multiplied also in Newfoundland, New Jersey, Penn- 

 sylvania and the coldest and most gloomy exposures in the 

 mountainous tracts of Virginia, which are the limits of its appear- 

 ance towards the south: but it is rare in these states, and in low- 

 er Jersey it is seen only in the swamps of white cedar, with which 

 it is scantily mingled. In Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine 

 it grows only in low and moist places, and never on uplands, .as 

 about Hudson's Bay and in Newfoundland; hence we may con- 

 clude that the climate of the northern part of the United States is 

 too mild for its constitution. 



The American larch is a magnificent vegetable with a straight, 

 slender trunk eighty or a hundred feet in height and two or three 

 feet in diameter. Its numerous branches, except near the summit, 

 are horizontal or declining. The bark is smooth and polished on 

 the trunk and lower limbs, and rugged on the lower branches. The 

 leaves are flexible, and collected in bunches: they are shed in the 

 fall and renewed in the spring. The flowers Hke those of the pines. 



