396 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



trees in England, two distinct forms are apparent. Certain trees have pubescent 

 branchlets and bear large cones, up to two inches in length, which have large scales 

 purplish in colour before ripening, long exserted bracts and long-wmged seeds. 

 Other trees with glabrous branchlets bear small cones, about i^ mch m length, with 

 scales green before ripening, shorter exserted bracts and small seeds with short wings. 

 The former trees are more narrowly pyramidal in habit. 



History 



This splendid tree is the largest of the genus, and though it has been known to 

 botanists for many years, it was till quite recently, on account of its being neglected 

 by the early explorers of the limited region which it inhabits, one of the rarest exotic 



conifers in cultivation. 



It was first discovered by David Douglas ^ in 1826 near Fort Colville on the 

 Upper Columbia river; but was mistaken by him for the European larch. His 

 specimens in the Kew Herbarium are labelled "in aqueous fiats on the mountain 

 valleys near Kettle Falls and in the Rocky Mountains, 1826." The tree was first 

 described in 1849 by Nuttall, who found it on the Blue Mountains of Oregon in 



1834. 



It was introduced into cultivation in the Arnold Arboretum in 1881, seed- 

 lings having been imported from Oregon ; but in the climate of New England 

 these have remained small and stunted, though branches grafted on the Japanese 

 larch have grown vigorously. Forty plants were sent from the Arnold Arboretum 

 to Kew in 1881, and one tree survives (the fate of the other plants being 

 unknown), which is remarkable for its beautiful straight stem and narrow, almost 

 columnar habit. This tree bears large purplish cones, and is now (1906) 33 feet in 

 height and 17 inches in girth. 



Ten plants were subsequently sent in 1889 from the Arnold Arboretum to Kew, 

 of which two survive. One of these trees is, however, identical in cones and 

 pubescent branchlets with the tree of 1881, and may be erroneously labelled 1889; 

 it has suffered damage at the top. The other tree, which has glabrous branchlets and 

 bears small green cones, is not quite so narrow in habit, and measured in 1906 29 

 feet in height and 17^ inches in girth. 



The only other large tree in Britain with which we are acquainted is growing 

 at Grayswood Hill, Haslemere ; and measured in 1906 28 feet high by 19 inches in 

 girth. It has pubescent branchlets, and bears purple cones, which are, however, 

 smaller than those of the Kew tree, labelled 1881. Mr. Chambers informs us that 

 this tree was obtained from Messrs. Dickson of Chester in 1889, 



Distribution 



I he western larch is confined to the more humid parts of the region, which 

 extends from the western slope of the Rocky Mountains in British Columbia and 



1 Comp. Hot. Mag. ii. 109 (l8jO), where Douglas statts that he measured trees 30 feet in girth. 



