I. 4, THE LARCH. 89 
presents a ready and certain distinction. It is of about half the 
length and two-thirds the thickness of that of the common fir, 
and the bracts or transformed leaves inside the scales of the 
cone, project and are bent back over the scales, and end ina 
somewhat long point, like the point of a leaf. 
From the great richness and luxuriance of the foliage, the 
double balsam is a very beautiful tree, and its leaves diffuse a 
peculiarly agreeable resinous odor. It has been successfully 
transplanted in Vermont, and, in some instances, in this State, 
and is valuable as an ornamental tree. 
Mr. Fraser discovered this tree on the high mountains of Caro- 
lina; and Pursh, who calls it Fraser’s Pine, found it on the 
Broad Mountains in Pennsylvania. I have seen it nowhere 
in this State, except on the top of Saddleback Mountain. It 
is found on the Green Mountains, in Vermont, and on Mount 
Washington, in New Hampshire, and, mingled with the com- 
mon fir, in the moist woods in Maine. It is a small tree, of the 
height of thirty feet, with a diameter of twenty inches. 
lL 4. Tue Larce. Larir. Tourneforte. 
The larches are deciduous trees of cold and mountainous 
regions of both continents. They are distinguished from the 
other pines by their leaves, which grow many together, in bun- 
dies from the top of buds whose scales are as persistent as the 
leaves. The wood of the larches is remarkable for its hardness 
and durability. 
Ll. 4. Tee Hacmatace. Larix Americana. Michaux. 
Two varieties figured in Lambert’s Pinus; Plates 49, 50. 
Also figured by Michaux ; Sylva, IIT, Plate 153. 
The tree by Loudon ; Arboretum, VIII, Plates 346, 347. 
The American larch, known very generally in New England 
by the aboriginal name of hacmatack, is not often, in this State, 
a tall tree. In deep forests it sometimes attains the elevation 
of seventy feet, but does not usually exceed half that height. 
It is distinguished from all others of the family by its crowded 
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