392 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



Seed was collected by Wilson in 1904, and plants have been raised, which are 

 growing well at Veitch's nursery, Coombe Wood. 



This species, being a purely alpine tree of no great size, will probably be of no 

 value as a forest tree, resembling in that respect its immediate allies L. Griffithti 

 and L. Lyallii, between which it occupies an intermediate position as regards 

 botanical characters. ' • •■' 



LARIX AMERICANA, Tamarack 



Larix americ-ana, Michaux, Fl. Bor. Am. ii. 203 (1803) ; Sargent, Silva N.Am. xii. 7, t. 593 (1898;, 



and Trees N. Am. 35 (1905); Kent, VeitcNs Man. Conif. 389 (1900). 

 Larix americana, Michaux, var. rubra, Loudon, Arb. et Frict. Brit. iv. 2400 (1838). 

 Larix temiifolia, Salisbury, Trans. Linn. Soc. viii. 314 (1807). 



Larix miirocarpa, Desfontaines, Hist. Arb. li. 597 (^1809); Lawson, Agric. Man. 388 (1836). 

 Larix lariiina, Koch, Dendj-ologie, II. ii. 263 (1873;. 



Larix pendula, Masters, /o?/;vi. Roy. Hoii. Soc. xiv. 218 (1S92). (Not Salisbury.) 

 Finns Larix americana nigra, Muenchausen, Llausv. v. 226 (1770). 

 Finns laricina, Du Roi, Obs. Bot. 49 (1771)- 



Finns intermedia, Wangenheim, Beit. LLolz. Forst. Nord A)n. LLblz. 42, t. 16, f. 37 (1787). 

 Finns microcarpa, Lambert, Finns, i. 58, t. 37 (1803). 

 Abies microcarpa, Poiret, Lamajxk's Diet. vi. 514 (1804). 



A tree attaining in America about 80 feet in height and 6 feet in girth. Bark 

 separating in thin small polygonal or roundish scales about an inch in diameter, which 

 are closely appressed, and show when they fall oft the reddish cortex beneath. 

 Young branchlets slender, often glaucous, glabrous, or with a few scattered hairs 

 in the grooves between the pulvini ; older branchlets glabrous, shining brown. Base 

 of the shoot girt with a short sheath of the previous season's bud-scales, no ring of 

 pubescence being visible. Short shoots small, blackish, glabrous. Terminal buds 

 globose, slightly resinous, glabrous, with the basal scales subulately pointed. Lateral 

 buds hemispherical, resinous, dark brown. Apical buds of the short shoots broadly 

 conical, surrounded at the base by a ring of brown pubescence. 



Leaves short and slender, not exceeding \\ inch in length, rounded at the apex, 

 light green ; upper surface flat or rounded, without stomata, except two broken lines 

 near the tip ; lower surface deeply keeled with two bands of stomata, each of one to 

 two lines. 



Staminate flowers sessile, shorter than in L. europera. Pistillate flowers ovoid, 

 reddish, very small ; bracts pointing upwards and outwards, not reflected or recurved, 

 ^ to ^ inch long, oblong, scarcely emarginate at the apex, reddish with a green 

 midrib and mucro, the latter cuspidate and very short, about -3^ inch long. 



Cones small, globose, consisting of three to four spiral rows of five scales each, 

 reddish brown when ripe, i to | inch long. Scales gaping widely at the apex of the 

 cone, longer than broad, about f inch long ; upper margin rounded, bevelled, slightly 

 crenulate, not recurved or reflected. Bract concealed, minute, about \ inch long. 



