416 



JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 



L. decidua pendida, Kegel in Gartenfl. 1871, s. 102. L. decidua 

 americana, Henk. and Hoclist. Conif. s. 133. L. arnericana ^pendula, 

 Loud. Encycl. of Trees, 1057. 



By some authors this variety is supposed to be of American origin. 

 It is hardy in Denmark. 



L. Griffitlii, Hook. fil. and Thompson. Finus Griffithi, Pari, 

 in DC. Prodr, xvi. 2, 411. Ahies Grijfithiana, Lindl. and Gord. 

 Journ. Hort. Soo. v. 214. Larix Griffithiana, Gord. Pin. 126. 



Habitat. — The temperate forests in the Eastern Himalayas, and 

 in Eastern Nepaul, Sikkim, and Bhotan, at from 8,000 to 12,000 feet 

 elevation. 



Introduced in 1850. 



A small tree, not exceeding 40 feet in height, with precisely the 

 habit of L. europsea var. pendula, which it so closely resembles as to 

 have deceived myself and others. It differs from that plant in the 

 very large cones with very long points to the exserted bracts. It is 

 called " Sail" or " Saar" by the Lepchas of Sikkim, and "Boarge sella" 

 by the ISTepalese, who informed me that it was found as far west as the 

 heads of the Cosi River in Eastern ISTepaul. It occurs only towards the 

 heads of the valleys near the snows, many miles from the plains of India, 

 at elevations of 10,000 to 12,000 feet, and where I first saw it clothing 

 old moraines; and though subsequently met with on grassy or bushy 

 slopes, it was only w^here there was much rock and free drainage. The 

 wood is regarded as the most durable of all the Sikkim Conifers, 

 and is easily split into planks ; but all of those that I have met vv^ith 

 were small, soft, and white ; I never saw any hard, close-grained red 

 wood, like that of the Larch in Switzerland, which may be accounted 

 for by the extreme wetness of the Sikkim climate. 



The cultivation of the Himalayan Larch in Europe has hitherto 

 proved a total failure, at least as far as I have ascertained. I sent 

 quantities of the seed to Kew in 1848, which germinated freely, and 

 hundreds of plants were raised and widely distributed ; but in every 

 case these succumbed, in a few years, to virulent attacks of Coccus 

 Laricis. Repeated importations of the seed into Kew and elsewhere 

 have met no better fate. I have often been shown L. europsea for 

 L. Griffitlii, sometimes with the most positive assurance that the tree 

 was received as such from Kew ; but in no instance have these borne 

 the unmistakable cone of the Himalaj^an Larch (J. D, Hooker, 

 Gard. Chron. 1886, p. 718). 



This species is perhaps hardy in Denmark. 



L. kurilensis, new spec, H. Mayr, Monogr. <ler Abietineen des 

 Jap. Reiches, 1890, 66, 5, f. 15. 



Habitat. — It grows in the Kurilet^-, but not on Kunashiri. It 

 only commences on Shikotan, where it forms a small tree ; but on 

 Iturupp (Japanese Etorofu) it grows into a tree of the height and habit 



