Overview
Trees deciduous; crown sparse, open. Bark silver-gray to gray-brown on young trees, becoming reddish brown to brown, smooth initially, scaly to thickened and furrowed with age. Branches whorled; short (spur) shoots prominent on twigs 2 years or more old, each bearing leaves (needles), and often pollen cone, or seed cone; lateral long shoots (sylleptic branches) sometimes produced by current-year growth increments; leaf scars many. Buds rounded. Leaves in tufts of 10--60 on short (spur) shoots or borne singly on 1st-year long shoots, deciduous, ± flattened, with abaxial keel, sessile, base decurrent, sheath absent, apex pointed or rounded; resin canals 2. Pollen cones solitary, ovoid-cylindric, yellowish. Seed cones maturing in 1 season, persisting several years, erect, globose to ovoid, usually terminal on short shoots and thus appearing stalked, sometimes sessile on 1-year-old long shoots; scales persistent, circular to oblong-obovate, thin, lacking apophysis and umbo; bracts included or exserted. Seeds winged ; cotyledons 4--6. x =12.
Species 10: boreal and cold north temperate areas, North America, Eurasia.
Species of Larix are present in most boreal regions; they often form only a minor component of the vegetation. Some are important for their hard, heavy, and decay-resistant wood. Only a few have received any horticultural attention; some cultivars exist for the most commonly cultivated Old World larches, L. decidua Miller and L. kaempferi (Lambert) Carrière, but almost none for the North American species.[1]
Taxonomy
The Genus Larix is further organized into finer groupings including:
- Species: ZipcodeZoo has pages for 167 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in the Genus Larix: L. 'Varied Directions' · L. alaskaensis · L. alaskensis · L. altaica · L. altoborealis · L. americana · L. amurensis · L. caducifolia · L. cajanderii · L. chinensis · L. czekanowskii · L. dahurica Turcz. ex Trautv. var. koreana Nakai · L. dahurica var. kurilensis · L. davurica · L. decidua (Dunkeld Hybrid Larch) · L. decidua var. polonica · L. decidua 'Autumn Gold Weeping' · L. decidua 'Corley' (European Larch) · L. decidua 'Croxby Broom' · L. decidua 'Globus' · L. decidua 'Grott' · L. decidua 'Horstmann Recurved' · L. decidua 'Julian's Weeper' (European Larch) · L. decidua 'Kornik' · L. decidua 'Krejci' · L. decidua 'Little Bogle' · L. decidua 'Pendula' (Weeping European Larch) · L. decidua 'Puli' · L. decidua 'Pyramidalis' · L. decidua 'Schwarzenburg' · L. decidua 'Varied Directions' (European Larch) · L. decidua 'Whorled Peace' (European Larch) · L. decidua Mill. 'Alba' · L. decidua Mill. 'Cerviconis' · L. decidua Mill. 'Compacta' · L. decidua Mill. 'Conica' · L. decidua Mill. 'Fastigiata' · L. decidua Mill. 'Kellermannii' · L. decidua Mill. 'Pendulina' · L. decidua Mill. 'Repens' · L. decidua Mill. 'Viminalis' · L. decidua Mill. 'Virgata' · L. decidua Mill. var. polonica (Racib. ex Woycicki) Ostenf. & Syrach · L. decidua var. carpatica · L. decidua var. decidua (European Larch) · L. decidua var. polonica · L. decidua var. rossica · L. eurolepis · L. europaea · L. europoea · L. fraseri · L. gmelini · L. gmelinii 'Tharandt' · L. gmelinii (Rupr.) Kuzen. 'Litria' · L. gmelinii (Rupr.) Kuzen. var. cajander (Mayr.) Silba · L. gmelinii (Rupr.) Kuzen. var. gmelinii · L. gmelinii (Rupr.) Kuzen. var. olgensis (A.Henry) Ostenf. & Syrach · L. gmelinii f. hsinganica (Dahurian Larch) · L. gmelinii olgensis · L. gmelinii var. gmelinii · L. gmelinii var. japonica · L. gmelinii var. olgensis · L. gmelinii var. principis-rupprechtii · L. griffithii var. griffithii · L. griffithii var. speciosa · L. henryana · L. intermedia · L. kaempferi · L. kaempferi (Japanese Larch) · L. kaempferi 'Bambino' · L. kaempferi 'Bingman' · L. kaempferi 'Blue Ball' · L. kaempferi 'Blue Dwarf' · L. kaempferi 'Blue Haze' · L. kaempferi 'Blue Rabbit Weeping' · L. kaempferi 'Blue Rabbit' (Japanese Larch) · L. kaempferi 'Blue Sparkler' (Japanese Larch) · L. kaempferi 'Cruwys Morchard' · L. kaempferi 'Cupido' · L. kaempferi 'Dervaes' · L. kaempferi 'Diana' · L. kaempferi 'Diane' · L. kaempferi 'Elizabeth Rehder' · L. kaempferi 'Grant Haddow' · L. kaempferi 'Green Pearl' · L. kaempferi 'Grey Pearl' · L. kaempferi 'Hanna's Broom' · L. kaempferi 'Herynek Wb' (Larch) · L. kaempferi 'Hobbit' · L. kaempferi 'Jakobsen' · L. kaempferi 'Jakobsen's Pyramid' · L. kaempferi 'Little Blue Star' · L. kaempferi 'Lobby Dosser' · L. kaempferi 'Nana Prostrata' · L. kaempferi 'Nana' · L. kaempferi 'Pendula' · L. kaempferi 'Peve Tunnis' · L. kaempferi 'Pulii' · L. kaempferi 'Stiff Weeping' · L. kaempferi 'Varley' · L. kaempferi 'Walter Pimven' · L. kaempferi 'Wehlen' · L. kaempferi 'Wolterdingen' · L. kaempferi 'Yanus Olieslagers' · L. kaempferi var. pendula (Weeping Japanese Larch) · L. kamtschatika · L. koreana · L. laricina (American Larch) · L. laricina 'Arethusa Bog' · L. laricina 'Bear Swamp' · L. laricina 'Bingman' · L. laricina 'Blue Sparkler' · L. laricina 'Deborah Waxman' · L. laricina 'Girard Dwarf' (Alaskan Larch) · L. laricina 'Hartwig Pine' · L. laricina 'Lanark' · L. laricina 'Newport Beauty' · L. laricina (Du Roi) K.Koch 'Aurea' · L. laricina (Du Roi) K.Koch 'Glauca' · L. laricina f. parvistrobus (Eastern Larch) · L. leptolepis · L. leptolepis f. pendula · L. leptolepis var. pendula · L. leptolepsis · L. lyalli · L. lyallii (Timberline Larch) · L. maritima · L. marschlinsii · L. mastersiana · L. nuttallii · L. occidentalis (Western Tamarack) · L. orientalis · L. pendula · L. potaninii Batalin var. himalaica (W.C.Cheng & L.K.Fu) Farjon & Silba · L. potaninii var. chinensis · L. potaninii var. himalaica · L. potaninii var. macrocarpa · L. potaninii var. potaninii · L. principis-ruprechtii · L. pseudo-L. · L. repens · L. rossica · L. rubra · L. russica (Siberian Larch) · L. siberica · L. sibirica (Siberian Larch) · L. sieboldii · L. sikkimensis · L. stenophylla · L. sukaczevii · L. × czekanowskii · L. × eurolepis (Dunkeld Hybrid Larch) · L. x lubarskii · L. x marschlinsii · L. × marschlinsii 'Domino' · L. × marschlinsii 'Gail' · L. × marschlinsii 'Julie' · L. × marschlinsii 'Newport 17' · L. x pendula · L. × pendula 'Pendulina' · L. laricina · L. decidua var. decidua · L. laricina · L. laricina
Bibliography
- Arno, S.F. and J.R. Habeck. 1972. Ecology of alpine larch (Larix lyallii Parl.) in the Pacific Northwest. Ecol. Monogr. 42: 417--450.
- Bakowsky, O.A. 1989. Phenotypic Variation in Larix lyallii and Relationships in the Larch Genus. M.Sc.F. thesis. Lakehead University.
- Carlson,C. 1965. Interspecific Hybridization of Larix occidentalis and Larix lyallii. M.Sc.F. thesis. University of Montana.
- Dickinson, T.A., W.H. Parker, and R.E. Strauss. 1987. Another approach to leaf shape comparisons. Taxon 36: 1--20.
- Knudsen, G.M. 1968. Chemotaxonomic Investigation of Hybridization between Larix occidentalis and Larix lyallii. M.Sc.F. thesis. University of Montana.
- Owens, J.N. and S.Simpson. 1986. Pollen from conifers native to British Columbia. Canad. J. Forest Res. 16: 955--967.
- Parker, W.H. and T.A. Dickinson. 1990. Range-wide morphological and anatomical variation in Larix laricina. Canad. J. Bot. 68: 832--840.
- Powell, G. R. 1987. Syllepsis in Larix laricina: Analysis of tree leaders with and without sylleptic long shoots. Canad. J. Forest Res. 17: 490--498.
Footnotes
- William H. Parker "Larix". in Flora of North America Vol. 2. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org.
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