TAMAR i( K I \K( l! 

 Lari ina Mid 



1 h»- Pine Family 

 PIN u I 



Habit and Habitat: A medium-sized tn 60 feet in diameto 



with trunk diameter of 1-2 feet, sometimes taller; tin- small horizontal 

 branches forming in early life a tree With narrow alar pyramidal 



crown, or later and in tn< ii, forming a broad, open, regular <>r 



irregular crown of horizontal branches. Pound on well-drained uplands 

 or tne borders of cold, deep swamps where it often forms t - of 

 Very closely crowded trees. 



Leaves and Buds: The leaves arc linear or needle-like, with blunt 

 apex, triangular or rounded in section, -'S-l 1 - Inches long, bright green, 

 ittered Singly on the leading or current shoots or clustered in many- 

 leaved tufts on the short lateral, knob-like brandies of the older wood; 

 some of the single leaves have low buds at their base from which the 

 dwarf, stubby branches develop the following year which produce the 

 clusters of leaves. Buds small, low, shiny, globose, dark red. All 

 leaves turning yellow and deciduous in early autumn. 



Flowers and Fruits: Flowers appearing with the leaves, product 

 in cones; staminate cones stalkless, globose, yellow, composed of many 

 short-stalked anthers spirally arranged about the central axis; the 

 pistillate cones oblong, short-stalked, bearing orbicular, light colored, 

 spirally arranged scales with green tips, and also orbicular red scales. 

 Fruit a leathery or woody cone maturing in the autumn of the first 

 ;Son, but may remain on the tree for many months after maturity, 

 ovoid or oblong, obtuse, light brown, fa-% inch long, short-stalked, 

 composed of about 20 leathery or woody scales which are nearly as 

 wide as long. 



Bark. Twigs and Wood: Bark of the trunk V4-94 inch thick, sep- 

 arating into thin, closely appressed, reddish-brown scales; twigs at first 

 ^rreen, grayish, or whitish, later light orange-brown, finally dark brown 

 and becoming scaly rather early. The wood is hard, heavy, very strong, 

 rather coarse-grained, durable in contact with the soil, light brown, 

 with thin nearly white sapwood; used largely in ship building, canoe 

 making, fence posts, railway ties, telegraph and telephone poles, etc. 



Distribution in the State: The tamarack is not found naturally 

 in Nebraska but is abundant in the great forests of northeastern United 

 States and in Canada wh^re it is a regular member of the forest flora 

 of swamps along with such trees as the black spruce. Planted somewhat 

 in Nebraska but not very successful unless planted in rather low, moist 

 sites. 



Remark-: The most striking characteristic of the tamarack is the 



annual shedding of its leaves and the consequent bare nature of the tree 



during the winter, that is, this tree is a deciduous conifer while the 



at majority of conifers art rgreens." The European tamarack. 



Larix Is planted quite commonly in this country especially in 



rks and as a lawn tree and as a rule is somewhat more successful than 



American species because it naturally prefers a well-drained 



soil and consequently may thrive where the American larch would die. 

 The ]• and cones of the foreign species are longer than those of 



our native larch. In certain situations it is a very desirable t 

 plant as a screen or windbreak'. 



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