Lodgepole Pine. firms cantor ta. 
Leaves two in a bundle, 1 to 3 inches long, dark green 
and slender. The cones, usually not over 2 inches in 
length, often persist on the branches several years, 
remain closed long periods, and are capable of with- 
standing excessive heat. Bark thin, blue brown, 
deeply furrowed. Wood pitchy, coarse-grained, hard 
and brittle, used only for fuel and minor purposes in 
Alaska. The sweet orange-flavored sap has been used 
by the natives as a delicacy. 
Lodgepole, our common scrub and only pine, is 
found in open muskegs, on benches near lakes through- 
out southeastern Alaska, and in the interior along the 
Yukon River in Canada and probably overlapping 
westward into Alaska to 64° north. It is intolerant of 
shade and grows in open stands, and its branches extend 
almost to the ground. It averages 20 to 40 feet in 
height and 6 to 20 inches in diameter, probably reach- 
ing an age of 100 to 125 years. 
Tamarack. Larix laricina. 
Leaves deciduous, in clusters of 12 to 20, approxi- 
mately 1 inch long. Cones one-half to three-fourths 
inch long, produced at 12 to 20 years, maturing in 
early fall. Bark ashy brown; winter twigs a dull tan 
color. Wood hard, heavy and elastic. Tamarack is 
used to some extent for poles, ties, and fence posts. 
Tamarack is found in the lower Yukon, upper 
Koyukuk, Tanana, and upper Kuskokwim River 
Valleys, extending north to 67°, south to 63°, and west 
to 160° on Unalakleet River, and at elevations up to 
1,G50 feet. It grows in muskegs and moist soils of 
almost any type, in open stands with cottonwood, 
black spruce, alder, and willow. It is a small hardy 
tree capable of withstanding great changes in tem- 
perature, and in Alaska is the only conifer shedding 
its leaves in winter. It seldom exceeds 6 inches in 
diameter, and has a straight, tapering trunk, thin 
crown, and horizontal branches which usually extend 
to the ground. 
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