LARCH TREE. 



PINUS LARIX. 



CONIFEE.i;. MONCECIA MONADELPHIA. 



French, meleze ; Italian, larice. 



The Common or White Larch, P'lmis Larix, is of 

 quick growth, and will reach to the height of fifty feet. 

 The leaves are long and narrow, growing in clusters from 

 one point like tassels ; and these clusters are placed al- 

 teraately upon the branches ; they are light green, and 

 fall off in the autumn. In this respect, the Larch differs 

 from all other trees of this genus, which are evergreens. 

 The branches are slender, and droop at the end : the 

 cones are about an inch long, shaped like an egg ; their 

 tops are sometimes tinged with bright purple, in others 

 they are quite white ; but the difference is merely acci- 

 dental, and in no way affects the seeds they contain. 



There are two varieties of this tree, one a native of 

 America, the other of Siberia : the latter requires a 

 colder chmate ; it is apt to die here in the summer, espe- 

 cially if planted in a dry soil. Of the American variety, 

 the branches are more slender than those of the Common 

 European Larch ; the leaves are narrower, more tender, 

 glaucous, and the outer ones in each cluster shorter than 

 the inner ; whereas in the Common Larch, they are of 

 equal length. The bark inclines to yellow in the Ame- 

 rican variety ; in the common sort, it is an ash-coloured 



