Larix laricina

Etymology

Larix is Latin for larch; laricina is Latin for resembling larch.

Native Habitat

Wet poorly-drained woodlands, boggy areas and uplands with moist soils.

Garden Uses

American larch is perfect for use in swampy areas and areas around ponds, lakes and streams. It has excellent fall color, turning golden after the last oaks. Its soft pale blue-green foliage contrasts well with foliage of other plants.

Overview

American Larch is a medium to large-size coniferous deciduous tree with a trunk up to 24" in diameter. It has an open, pyramidal shape with horizontal branching. This is a tree of very cold climates.

Leaves and Stems

The leaves are needle-like and ¾” – 1 ¼” long. They are light blue-green and turn bright yellow before they fall in the autumn, leaving knobby brown branches bare until the next spring. The needles are produced spirally in dense clusters of 10-20 on long woody spur shoots. The bark of a young tree is grayish to reddish brown. Mature bark is tight and flaky, but under the bark can appear reddish.

Flowers

Male and female flowers are cone-like structures called strobili and are borne on separate branches of the same tree.

Fruit/Seed

The cones are spherical, only ¾” long, with 12-25 seed scales; they are bright red and then turn brown and open at maturity to release the small winged seeds.

Animal Associates

Seeds are a favorite of crossbills, and the buds are eaten by spruce grouse. Tamarack attracts birds and butterflies and is the host plant for the Columbia silkmoth, eye-spotted bud moth, poecila sphinx, northern pine sphinx, apple sphinx, and pine measuring worm moth. Tamaracks are often used as nesting sites. Small mammals may browse the bark, which is also attractive to several species of bark beetles.

Propagation

Surface sow on a bed of moss and overwinter outdoors.

Ethnobotanical Uses

Native Americans sewed together strips of birch bark for their canoes. Roots bent at right angles served the colonists as "knees" in small ships, joining the ribs to deck timbers. Today, wood from the tamarack is used as framing for houses, railroad cross-ties, poles and pulpwood.