LYALL LARCH 



Larix lyallii Parlatore 



Of all the trees in the Canadian Rockies, Lyall larch is the most 

 interesting and the most picturesque. It is usually found between 

 6,000 and 8,000 feet elevation, where its bright green foliage is easily 

 recognized from a distance, skirting the darker green spruces and firs 

 at timberline. A rugged tree, gnarled and twisted by the wind into 

 picturesque forms, it reaches a height of fifty feet in favorable local- 

 ities, with a trunk diameter of twenty inches. The cones are produced 

 about once in three years. The wood is tough and hard to cut, but it 

 makes a very hot although not lasting fire. As soon as a hard frost 

 comes, the leaves turn bright yellow and soon fall. Doctor Charles S. 

 Sargent and William M. Canby journeyed all the way from Boston 

 in 1858 to find this tree in fruit. I had been stopping at Lake Louise 

 and had procured a number of branches of Lyall larch with beauti- 

 ful cones, from the shores of Lake Agnes. On arriving at Banff, I left 

 my precious specimens on the rack beside the dining room door, while 

 I got my supper. When the meal was finished, the bunch of larch had 

 disappeared. On investigation I found the two botanists sitting on the 

 floor, with the Lyall larch between them, filled with enthusiasm 

 that their long journey would be a fruitful one. 



Lyall larch has a very narrow range. It grows in a few places in 

 Montana and in northern Oregon, but is plentiful only in Alberta and 

 British Columbia. 



The branch sketched came from near Lake McArthur, twelve 

 miles by trail from Hector, British Columbia, at an altitude of 7,500 

 feet. 



plate 381 



