Fifty Common Trees op New York 17 



8. AMERICAN LARCH 



Tamarack, Hackmatack 



(Larix laricina (Du Roi) Koch) 



American larch is a forest tree of the swamps. In the mountainous 

 sections of the State, it is frequently found well up the slopes, but is 

 confined to cold swamps in eastern, central, and western New York. The 



AMERICAN LARCH 

 Branchlet and cone, natural size 



wood is very heavy, hard, and strong, light brown in color, and durable 

 in contact with the soil. It is used for fence posts, telegraph poles, and 

 railroad ties. 



Bark — smooth, light gray in color on young trunks; with age becom- 

 ing roughened with thin reddish brown scales. 



Twigs — slender, smooth, glossy brown in color, with short lateral 

 wart-like branches. 



Winter buds — scattered along last season's twigs and at the ends of 

 short lateral branches, small, rounded, reddish brown in color, shining. 



Leaves — borne singly on twigs of last season's growth, on spurs of 

 older twigs, in clusters of 10 or more, flat, slender, pale green in color, 

 about 1 inch long, falling off in the autumn of the first year. 



Fruit — a cone, % inch long, borne on short curving stalks, maturing 

 in autumn of the first year, chestnut brown in color, standing upright 

 from the twigs, staying on the tree for several years. Cone scales — con- 

 cave in shape. Seeds — in pairs, winged, light brown in color, % inch 

 long, ripening in early autumn. 



