34^ The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



*# Yoiijia branchlets glabrous. 



t Branchlets yelloiuish grey in colour. 



8. Larix europcsa, De Candolle. Europe. 



Branchlets of the second year shining, glabrous, yellowish grey. 

 8a. Larix sibu'ica, Ledebour, var. Russia. 



In certain specimens of this species the branchlets are indistinguishable from 

 those of Larix europcea, and in the absence of cones only show a difference 

 in the leaves, which are very long and slender in L. sibirica. 



ft Branchlets brown in colozir. 



9. Larix aniericana, Michaux. North America. 



Young branchlets often glaucous. Branchlets of the second year shining 

 brown. Short shoots blackish. Leaves short, not exceeding \\ inch in 

 length. 

 10. Larix dahurica,Tntci2.mnoy^. Siberia. 



Young branchlets never glaucous. Branchlets of the second year shining 

 brown. Short shoots blackish. Leaves long, exceeding i^ inch. 



These two species strongly resemble each other in technical characters, but 

 are readily distinguished, as seen in cultivation in this country, by the 

 appearance of the branchlets, which in L. dalmrica are vigorous, long, and 

 straight, whereas in L. america^ia. which makes slow growth, they are 

 short, curved, and twisted. 

 lOA. Larix occidentalism Nuttall, var. In glabrous specimens of this species the 

 chestnut-brown coloured short shoots will readily distinguish them from 

 either of the two preceding species. 



Mayr says that though the various species of larch seem very different at the 

 first sight, yet that they all have the same biological character, and are all inhabitants 

 of the coldest limits of the forest, whether produced by latitude or altitude, and 

 that when introduced into warmer regions or zones, they lose their economic useful- 

 ness through premature fruitfulness or fungoid attacks. This opinion, though so often 

 expressed in various forms by foresters of continental experience, is not strictly 

 applicable to Great Britain, as the pages of this work will prove ; and though the 

 liability to spring frost is greater with the more northern and alpine species, yet in 

 their native countries larches are also subject to frosts during almost every month 

 in the year, and though the young shoots in spring and the unripened wood in 

 autumn are often much injured by frost, yet no trees have a greater power of 

 recovering from injuries produced by climatic influences, provided the soil is 

 suitable; and Mayr truly says that the warmer the climate in which the larch 

 is cultivated the better the soil it requires. He considers that the timber of all 

 larches is practically of equal value, its quality depending on the slowness at which 

 it is grown, rather than on the species or origin of the parent tree. 



