42 
FLORA AND SYLVA 
THE GREATER TREES OF THE 
NORTHERN FOREST.— No. 23. 
THE LARCH {JLarix europced). 
The best tree that ever came to us from 
oversea, for its timber ; worthy to rank 
beside our Ash and Oak, and among 
the best trees for beauty. In plantations, 
often ill-made and quickly cut down, 
one seldom sees this extraordinary 
beauty ; but if we cross the Alps and 
get into some natural Larch forest, with 
the huge patriarchs barkless and prone 
among the young trees, or see the trees 
in a picturesque group beside some rapid 
Tyrolese river, or on the rocks over a 
mountain torrent ; or as at Dunkeld, 
where some of the first trees planted in 
our islands still stand ; then we get 
some idea of its beauty. A native of 
the cold and lovely mountains of central 
Europe, it is suited for all parts of our 
islands, and for many kinds of soil. The 
Larch is the great tree of the dry, cold [ 
regions of the northern hemisphere, , 
where it is found spreading across j 
Europe, Asia, and America. True it 
bears various names according as its 
home is in Sikkim, Japan, Siberia, 
Switzerland, or the Rocky Mountains, 
but whether called Larix Grifithii^ 
japojtica and leptolepis^ si I? ir tea and 
dahurica^ europcea or americana^ occi- 
dentalis and Lyai/i — as the American 
species are now known — its form differs 
so little that all may be treated under 
the generic name of Larch. Such dis- 
tinctions as exist between these kinds 
hardly touch the general appearance of 
the tree. Avoiding the rich soils of the 
plain and the shelter of the lowlands, 
the Larch seeks regions that are high, 
and cold, and is happiest upon the 
wind-swept slopes of the mountain- 
side. The centre of its distribution 
appears to be in Siberia, from whence 
it has made its way east and west into 
Europe and America, undergoing slight 
modifications of habit and form with 
changes of soil and climate. 
In Europe the Larch is seen at its 
best in the central alpine region, though 
scattered more or less throughout the 
entire chain and its most precious orna- 
ment and possession. It represents at 
once the building material and fuel of 
the mountaineer, for the few other trees 
which share with it the upper slopes 
are rarer and of slow growth. For 
regions such as this the wood of the 
Larch is the most valued of all the Fir 
tribe, being hard, of rich red colour, 
full of resin, and so lasting as to have 
earned the name " Oak of the moun- 
tains." The oldest of the Swiss chalets, 
dating in some cases from the fourteenth 
century, are built of Larch, and their 
framework is as sound to-day as ever. 
It is much used for building 
chalets, farm-buildings, and 
all work requiring lightness and great 
strength ; in Russia it is used in pre- 
ference to Oak in the dockyards, be- 
coming hard as stone in contact with 
salt water, though its rigidity unfits it 
for masts or spars. It is also much used 
for the making of ladders, and its lighter 
wood for vine-trellises, for which it is 
in great demand in the south of Europe, 
and for hop-poles and other outdoor 
work in the north, because of its resis- 
tance to weather. Though it burns well 
it is not so good for fuel as other moun- 
Timber. 
