LARCH 



flat like Deal. Smell none. Burns with a lively, spurting, 

 crackling flame : embers glow brightly in still air. Solution 

 colourless. 



Grain. Fine, straight and even. Surface satiny, frosted and 

 even brilliant in Radial section. 



Bark. Dark brown, rugged : of one layer, filled with coarse, 

 hard whitish bodies and covered with a brittle skin. " Thin 

 . . . rather smooth reddish bark, which flakes off in irregular 

 scales " (49). 



Uses, etc. " Coarse but strong and useful " (60). " Shrinkage 

 unusually great " (2). " Attains a large size " (66). " No other 

 tree of the West Coast is used for such varied purposes . . . 

 very white : elastic, bends with the grain without splitting . . . 

 much used in boat-building, light oars, staves, doors, window- 

 sashes, etc., etc. . . . resists decay for a long time and is not 

 attacked by insects " (65). 



Authorities. Macoun (65), p. 36. Hough (49), pt. vi. p. 54. 

 Laslett (60), p. 379. Anderson (2), p. 10. Mouillefert (79), 

 p. 315. Boulger (12), p. 451. Sargent (100), p. 206. 



Colour. " Deeper in colour than the Eastern Spruces " : 

 heart- wood orange brown: sap-wood yellowish- whi te " (49). 

 "Very white and light: resembles White Pine" (2). Itsomewhat 

 suggests a brown Pencil-Cedar when cut transversely. Heart- 

 wood defined, but not abruptly, from the sap-wood. 



Anatomical Characters. As those of the Piceas and Pines 

 generally (see Nos. 242 and 235), but rays and pores readily visible 

 when moistened. Tissue very dense and almost uniform. In 

 tangential section the rays are visible as minute dots against the 

 lustrous ground, being much darker, and are readily visible in the 

 radial section, especially when moistened. 



Type specimens authenticated by Hough. 



No. 238. LARCH. Larix europea. DC. (not Michx.) 

 Plate XVI. Fig. 137. 



Natural Order. Coniferae. 



Alternative Names. Gemeine Laerche : Lorche : Lorcner 

 Fichte : Gemeiner Lechenbaum : Terpintinbaum : Weissei 

 Lorchen-baum : Europaische Ceder (113). 



Sources of Supply. Northern Europe. 



Physical Characters, etc. Recorded dry-weight 28I-41 \ lbs. per 

 cu. ft. Hardness Grade 7, compare Deal. Smell and taste none. 

 Burns very well with a lively and rather noisy flame : greyish 

 ash : some resin expelled by heat : little smell. Reaction with 

 iron salts black. 



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