I 1 AKUI'.OOK OI-' TuKES OF THE NoKTllK.RN StATJ^S AND CaNADA. 



21 



riie Tamarack is a beautiful tree not often 

 o\(-'i tllj ft. in lu'iyiit nor willi liiiiik more than 

 li fl. in t!iii--kness. Its trunk is usually 

 stiaiglit and columnar or sliglitly tapering, 

 with scaly barU showing little tendency to 

 iK'CDUie ridged and its top is nsnally of narrow 

 pyraniiilal form with short lnjrizont.al branches 

 and open airy fcdiage. It is distinetivelj' a 

 tree of swanrpy hinds, ^enluring farther out 

 on low lake shores and ((uukiiig spluignum 

 bogs than any oilier tree excepting sometimes 

 ttie Swamji Siniice and these regions it char- 

 acterizes in suniiner with its pale green foliage 

 oi lights up in autumn with its covering of 

 briglit yellow. To tlie northward in its range 

 \^here it is very abundant, it is found also on 

 widl drained uplands ftnining in jilai-es ex- 

 tensive tracts of np,.n forest. With the Black 

 Spruce it forms the \angnard of the forests 

 in the subarctic regions and there maintains 

 tree-form battling with the elements wdiile its 

 companion is prone upon the grounil but still 

 engaged in the struggle. 



The wood, of which a cnhic foot wdien dry 

 "weighs .SS.Sb lbs., is rather hard, heavy, strong 

 and \'ery durable in contact with the S(dl. It 

 is of a light orange-brown color with thin 

 lighter sap-wood and is \-alued for railway 

 ties, posts, jilanks and lumber for interior 

 finishing. - 



Lcnrrs; very slcndci-, numerous, in fnscicli'S nn 

 slicrt lateral simi-s, nr sin,i;l,\- en new sIk.cIs, -'v 

 I'l in. Ions, linear, trians'ular, pale sjrccn, im-ulns 

 VPllow and falling in autnmn. FJnirrrx aiipcar 

 with the leaves: staminate yellow, siili.sldlinse 

 from leafless scaly buds : pistillate nblon'; with 

 rose-red rounded scales, on lateral mostly leafy 

 spurs, Cnnrs oblong, aiiout V.. in. Ions on short 

 peduncles and composed of about 12 thin conrave 

 snborbicular persistent scales about twice as Ions 

 as their bracts ; seeds about Vs in. long, with light 

 hniwn wing brcadest at about I he middle."' 



1. Syn. L. laracina (Lmrtoi) Ivoch. 



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