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American Larch Larix laricina 



The tamarack or larch is the only Hudson Valley conifer 

 which loses all its leaves during a single season. It is a 

 round-topped tree when young, but in age the branches often 

 become contorted and consequently the whole tree is scraggy 

 in appearance. The leaves are narrow, triangular in section, 

 and bright green in color, becoming yellow before they fall 

 in the autumn. They are usually not more than i y 2 inches 

 long and arranged in isolated little clusters. The flowers 

 come out in spring and the pistillate or cones are scarcely 

 more than three quarters of an inch long. They mature 

 during the first season. 



The larch usually grows in cold bogs where it may form 

 dense forests. It reaches its southerly limit in Pennsylvania 

 and West Virginia. The wood is much used for railway ties, 

 ship construction and for telegraph poles. 



Swamp Spruce Picea mariana 



Within the Hudson Valley region the spruce, with the 

 larch, seems to be confined to low bogs. Far north the tree 

 grows on slopes and attains a height of ioo feet, it is never so 

 tall as this in our area. The bark is thin, closely fissured 

 and brownish in color. As in all the spruces the leaves are 

 four-sided; in this sort they are not more than a half inch 

 long, sharp-pointed, and bluish-green in color. They are 

 usually scattered on the hairy twigs. The pistillate flowers 

 or cones are fastened to a strongly incurved stalk. They are 

 oval in outline and composed of numerous small scales which 

 are notched at the top. The tree may often be seen with 

 cones several years old still clinging to the branches. 



The wood of the swamp spruce is soft and is occasionally 

 used as lumber, but it is now an important source of paper 

 pulp. It grows practically throughout the northeastern part 

 of the continent, coming down as far south as Pennsylvania 

 and West Virginia. 



The red spruce (Picea rubens) also growing in the Hud- 

 son Valley may be distinguished from the swamp spruce 



