404 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



about 51° N. on the Rocky Mountains, not extending to the moister climate of the 

 Gold or Cascade ranges in British territory, nor has it as yet been discovered in the 

 more northern parts of British Columbia. Southwards, it extends along the Cascade 

 Mountains of Northern Washington to Mount Stewart on the north fork of the 

 Yakima river, and along the continental divide of the Rocky Mountains to the middle 

 fork of Sun river and to Pend d'Oreille pass in North-Western Montana.^ In its 

 northern habitat— near Laggan, Alberta— I have seen it from about 5000 up to 

 7000 feet. Though Mr. ]. Macoun reports it on a mountain near Morley as low as 

 4500 feet, yet Wilcox,' who must have seen as much of this tree as any one who has 

 written of it, says it is rarely seen below 6000 feet, and that its extreme range of 

 altitude might be placed between 5600 and 7600 feet. 



Lyall's larch is a very beautiful tree of moderate size, from 50 to 70 feet high 

 being about the average, with a girth of 5 to 6 feet, but on Mount Stewart Mr. 

 Brandagee reported that it attained as much as 4 feet in diameter. Its growth is 

 extremely slow, Wilcox having counted 30 rings of growth in a branch only f 

 inch in diameter ; whilst a tree cut by Brandagee on Mount Stewart which showed 

 562 annual rings was only 16^ inches in diameter under the bark. 



Mr. M. W. Gorman says:' — Near Lake Chelan it was not seen at all in the 

 moist valleys, and was generally found to favour the passes and sheltered sides of the 

 crest lines and divides, and here it ranges in altitude from 5800 to 7100 feet. The best 

 grove seen was at about 6700 feet elevation near War Creek pass. The tree ranges in 

 height from 50 to 90 feet, and in diameter from 10 to 25 inches. The mature tree 

 has a rather thick greyish bark, and is well fruited with oval, mostly erect persistent 

 cones. The branches are mostly lateral, very brittle, and quite small in proportion 

 to the tree. The foliage changes colour with the first severe frosts about October i. 



L. Lyallii has to contend with a climate as severe as, and very similar to that of 

 the Altai Mountains, the snow usually lying till late in June or even July, and snow 

 and frost often occurring in July and August. The bark is rough and greyish and 

 the branches short, irregular, brittle, and easily broken by a heavy snowfall. 

 Wilcox says that the trees growing at the highest altitude have a curious develop- 

 ment not found on those only a few hundred feet lower. The tufts of leaves spring 

 from a hollow woody sheath, which is sometimes more than an inch long on the trees 

 at high altitudes, whilst elsewhere this is not present. 



The seed appears to ripen and shed early like that of the western larch, for 

 though I have made several attempts to procure it from friends visiting the Rockies 

 they have been, like myself, always too early or too late, and though I tried to bring 

 home seedlings in 1893 they died on the journey home. 



It is not, however, at all likely to succeed in this country, except possibly on the 

 higher parts of the Grampian Mountains, and even there I fear the climate will be 

 too damp, and the winter too short for it. (H. J. E.) 



1 Sheldon, in Forest Wealth of Oregon, says Ihat ii ,s "rare on the high peaks of the Wallowa Mountains." 



2 The Rockies of Canada, 63 (1900). 



= U.S. Geo!. Sm-vey, Eastern Part oj Washington Forest Reserx^e (1899). Mr. Gorman calls the tree L. ocddentalis ■ 

 but his specimens, which we have seen, are labelled L. Lyallii by himself, and are this species. 



