Larix laricina
alaskan larch, American larch, eastern larch, hackmatack, mélèze laricin, tamarack
of young trees gray, smooth, becoming reddish brown and scaly, inner layer red-purple.
horizontal or slightly ascending;
twigs orange-brown, glabrous.
dark red, subtended by ring of hairlike bracts, glabrous.
of short shoots 1–2cm × 0.5–0.8mm, 0.3–0.5mm thick, keeled abaxially, rounded adaxially, pale blue-green;
resin canals 10–20µm from margins.
cones 1–2 × 0.5–1cm, usually on curved stalks 2–5 × 2–2.5mm, sometimes sessile on long shoots;
scales 10–30, margins entire, brown-strigose to -tomentose at base;
bracts mucronate or tipped by awn to 1mm, hidden by mature scales, at first dark red to violet, later turning yellow-brown.
53–65µm diam.
=24.
Larix laricina
Disjunct Alaskan populations of Larix laricina, originally described as Larix alaskensis on the basis of narrower cone scales and bracts, are indistinguishable from other populations of the species.
The wood of tamarack is used for railway ties, pilings, and posts; it formerly was used for boat construction. Slow-growing trees develop wood with high resin content, making it decay resistant but limiting its value for pulpwood. The bark contains a tannin, which has been used for tanning leather. Although tamarack is the most rapidly growing boreal conifer under favorable conditions, it is of little commercial interest because of insect and disease problems and its poor pulping properties. Plants of this species are often stunted in the far north and on mountain slopes.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
BC
Go Botany
IL Wildflowers
MD Biodiversity
MI Flora
MN Wildflowers
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
