THE LARCH
Family Pinaceæ
The larch is the only native Northern genus of the pine family which
loses its leaves in winter; all the other native genera are evergreens.
There is one indigenous species, and one from Europe which is
cultivated even more commonly than the American tree.
[Sidenote: American Larch; Tamarack or Hackmatack
_Larix americana_]
_A large tree, 50 to 100 feet high. The bark is rough with small, flat
scales. The stems are pliable, and are covered with knobby buds. The
cones are small, not more than half an inch long._
In Massachusetts the larch does not attain a great height, but in cold
Northern swamps it grows to be a large tree. It is not dependent on
a wet situation, but grows well after being transplanted into upland
soil. Its growth is rapid, and it is often chosen for “quick effects”
in landscape gardening,—a choice which is to be regretted for the most
part, as few trees have so little beauty as the larch.
During a brief interval in the early spring, when the first young
leaves fringe the branches in delicate green, this tree is really
lovely, but after that there is little to attract us in its
stiff, formal outline and dark foliage, and in winter it is most
unprepossessing.
The wood is heavy, hard, strong, and very durable. It is used for the
knees of vessels and ship timbers, for posts, telegraph poles, and
railway ties.
The generic name, _Larix_, comes from the Celtic word _lar_, meaning
fat, and was given to this genus on account of the resin produced by
the tree. The larch is found throughout the Northeastern States.
[Sidenote: European Larch
_Larix europæa_]
_A large tree, 80 to 100 feet high. The branches are more pendulous,
and the cones are twice as large as those of our native species._
The cones of both the American and European larches hang on the
branches through the winter, and as those of the European are an inch
or more long and about as broad, while those of the American are half
that size, the trees are easily distinguished from each other. Even in
the accompanying photographs this difference is discernible.
[Illustration: EUROPEAN LARCH
_Larix europæa_
Page 188
]
At one time in England the plan of introducing the larch into the
forests bordering the English lakes was under consideration, and this
greatly disturbed the poet Wordsworth, who was keenly alive to the
distressing effects of inharmonious and inappropriate tree planting.
In “A Description of the Scenery of the Lakes,” he points out the
fact that it is impossible for trees which terminate in a spike, like
that of the larch, to blend together and form masses of wood; that if
thousands to tens of thousands are added, the appearance is still the
same, a collection of separate individual trees, obstinately presenting
themselves as such, and which, from whatever point they are looked at,
if but seen may be counted upon the fingers. He goes on to express
his dislike of the larch in the following words “As a tree it is less
than any other pleasing; its branches (for boughs it has none) have
no variety in the youth of this tree, and little dignity even when it
attains its full growth; leaves it cannot be said to have, consequently
it affords neither shade nor shelter. In spring the larch becomes green
long before the native trees, and its green is so peculiar and vivid
that, finding nothing to harmonize with it, wherever it comes forth
a disagreeable speck is produced. In summer, when all other trees
are in their pride, it is of a dingy, lifeless hue; in autumn of a
spiritless, unvaried yellow, and in winter it is still more lamentably
distinguished from every other deciduous tree of the forest, for they
seem only to sleep, but the larch appears absolutely dead.”
Many old stories are in existence concerning the durability and
incombustibility of the wood of this tree. It is said that Julius Cæsar
wished to set fire to a wooden tower before the gates of a castle, in
the Alps, which he was besieging; that he heaped up logs of larch wood
around it, but was utterly unable to make them burn,—“_robusta larix
igni impenetrabile lignum_.” Evelyn, one of the first English writers
on trees, gives an account of a ship made of larch wood and cypress
which was found in the Numidian Sea, twelve fathoms under water, and
which, though it had lain fourteen hundred years submerged, was yet
quite hard and sound.
Exaggerated as these accounts may seem, the fact remains that the wood
is extremely valuable, and what the larch lacks in grace and beauty as
an ornamental tree it makes up in its merits as a useful one. Thus even
among trees there is a just law of compensation.
INDEX
INDEX
Acacia, rose, 131
_Acer_, 21
_dasycarpum_, 26
_negundo_, 28, 29
_pennsylvanicum_, 27, 28
_platanoides_, 29, 30
_pseudo-platanus_, 30, 31
_rubrum_, 23, 25
_saccharinum_, 25, 26
_saccharum_, 22, 23, 26
_spicatum_, 28
_Aceracæ_, 21
_Æsculus glabra_, 17
_hippocastanum_, 15, 17
Ailanthus, 160
_glandulosa_, 160, 161
_Amelanchier_, 174
_canadensis_, 173
Angelica tree, 162
Apple tree, 167
_Aralia spinosa_, 162, 163
_Araliaceæ_, 153, 162
Ash, American, 36
black, 38
buds, color of, 40
downy, 37
European, 39
excrescences on the, 36
green, 36
red, 37
seeds, 41
white, 36
Ashes, 9, 35, 41
Aspen, 179
American, 179
large-toothed, 181
Balm of Gilead, 182
Bark, 6, 7
color of, 7
taste of, 7
Basswood, 141
small leaved, 141
white, 141
Beech, 7, 77
American, 77
blue, 72
European, 79
purple, 80
_Betula_, 61
_alba_, 68
_lenta_, 63, 64
_lutea_, 64, 66
_nigra_, 66
_papyrifera_, 60, 61
_populifolia_, 62, 63
_pumila_, 68
_Betulaceæ_, 59
Bigelow, 158
_Bignoniaceæ_, 153, 158
Birch, 59
American, 62
beer, 64
black, 63
canoe, 7, 60
dwarf, 68
European white, 68
gray, 62
paper, 60
red, 66
river, 66
sweet, 63
white, 60, 62
Birch, yellow, 64
Birches, 59
Bosc, 169
Boutcher, 80
Box elder, 28
Branches, 6, 7, 10
Bryant, quoted, 119
Buckeye, Ohio, 17
Buckeyes, 15
Buds, 6, 10, 11
accessory, 11
adventitious, 11
axillary, 6, 10
collateral, 11
flower, 11
flowers in the, 10
latent, 11
lateral, 6, 10
scales of, 9
superposed, 11
terminal, 6, 10
winter, 11
Bundle-scars, 10
Butternut, 11, 45
sugar from sap of, 47
Buttonwood, 117
Cambium layer, 5, 6
_Carpinus_, 73
_caroliniana_, 72, 74
_Castanea_, 82
_dentata_, 81, 83
Catalpa, hardy, 158
_speciosa_, 158, 160
_Celtis_, 101
_occidentalis_, 112, 113
_Cercis canadensis_, 136
Cherry, black, 7, 171
bird, 172
choke, 172
pin, 172
red, 172
sweet, 172
Chestnut, 77, 81
Spanish, 82
_Cladrastis_, 134
_lutea_, 134
Cook, 80
Cork tree, 89
_Cornaceæ_, 120
Cornel, flowering, 121
_Cornus_, 122
_florida_, 121, 122
Cottonwood, 183
swamp, 184
Cucumber tree, 155
Dogwood, 120
flowering, 121
poison, 121
Du Hamel, quoted, 143
Elm, 101
American, 5, 10, 101, 102
cork, 7, 107, 144
Dutch, 111
English, 101, 108
feathered, 11, 103
Lancaster, 103
red, 105
rock, 107
Scotch, 111
slippery, 7, 105
Thomas’s, 107
white, 102
wych, 111
Elms, 101
Emerson, quoted, 37, 39, 87, 91, 94, 108, 119, 183
Evelyn, quoted, 41, 80, 190
_Fagaceæ_, 77
_Fagus_, 79
_americana_, 77
_Fagus sylvatica_, 78, 80
_Fraxinus_, 35
_americana_, 36
_excelsior_, 39
_nigra_, 38
_pennsylvanica_, 37
Fruit, 8
Gerard, quoted, 70, 111, 180
_Gleditsia_, 133
_triacanthos_, 132, 133
Gilpin, 80, 119
Gray, quoted, 47, 119
Growth, 6, 9, 10
annual rings of, 6
_Gymnocladus dioicus_, 135
Hackberry, 101, 112
Hackmatack, 187
_Hamamelidaceæ_, 141
_Hamamelis_, 144, 146
Hamerton, quoted, 69
Heartwood, 5, 6
Hercules’ club, 162
Hickories, 9, 45
Hickory, bitternut, 53
mockernut, 7, 51
pignut, 54
shagbark, 7, 49
shellbark, 49
white-heart, 51
_Hicoria_, 45, 51
_alba_, 51
_glabra_, 54, 56
_minima_, 53, 54
_ovata_, 49
_Hippocastanaceæ_, 15
Holmes, quoted, 109, 118
Homer, quoted, 180
Hop hornbeam, 8, 71
Hornbeam, 7, 72
Horsechestnut, 8, 9, 15, 41, 143
Horsechestnut buds, 15, 16
flowers, 16
leaf-scars, 15
twigs, 15
Indian bean, 158
Internodes, 9
Ironwood, 71
Jekyll, quoted, 69
Judas tree, 136
_Juglandaceæ_, 45
_Juglans_, 45, 47
_cinerea_, 45
_nigra_, 48
_regia_, 49
Juneberry, 173
Kentucky coffee tree, 129, 135, 160, 161
Knight, 169
_Laburnum vulgare_, 136
Larch, 187
American, 187
European, 188
_Larix_, 188
_americana_, 187
_europæa_, 188
_Lauraceæ_, 141, 147
Leaf-scars, 9, 10
_Leguminosæ_, 129
Lenticels, 8, 16
Lime trees, 143
Linden, 141
common, 141
European, 141, 143
Linnæus, 28, 67, 143, 145, 146
_Liquidambar_, 144, 145
_styraciflua_, 144, 146
Liquidamber, 7, 144
_Liriodendron_, 153, 157
_tulipifera_, 155
Locust, clammy, 131
common, 129
honey, 132
Loudon, 31, 111, 124, 148
Lowell, quoted, 24
Lubbock, quoted, 156
_Magnolia acuminata_, 155
_glauca_, 153, 154
swamp, 153
_tripetala_, 154, 155
_Magnoliaceæ_, 153, 157
Maple, 21
ash-leaved, 28
bird’s eye, 23
curled, 25
moosewood, 27
mountain, 7, 28
Norway, 29
red, 10, 11, 23
rock, 22
silver, 25
striped, 7, 27
sugar, 7, 22
swamp, 23
sycamore, 30
white, 25
Maples, 9, 21, 41
Maple sugar, 22, 23
Mathews, 80
Medullary rays, 6
Michaux, 55, 79, 88, 145
Milton, quoted, 109
_Moracæ_, 122
_Morus_, 123
_alba_, 123, 124
_rubra_, 123
Mountain ash, 170
Mulberry, red, 123
white, 122, 124
Nettle tree, 112
Nodes, 9
_Nyssa_, 120
_sylvatica_, 120
Oak apples, 93
bear, 97
black, 92
bur, 88
chestnut, 89
chinquapin, 90
dwarf chestnut, 90
mossy-cup, 88, 144
overcup, 88
pin, 96
post, 91
red, 93
rock chestnut, 89
rough, 91
scarlet, 95
scrub, 97
swamp white, 86
white, 85
Oaks, 9, 77, 83, 84
_Oleaceæ_, 35
_Ostrya_, 72
_virginiana_, 71, 72
Ovid, quoted, 110
Pallas, quoted, 182
Peach tree, 172
buds of, 173
Pear tree, 169
Pepperidge, 120
Phyllotaxy, 81, 82
_Pinaceæ_, 187
Pith, 6, 8
color, 8
form, 8
rays, 6
Plane tree, 117
_Platanaceæ_, 117
_Platanus_, 119
_occidentalis_, 117, 119
_orientalis_, 119
Plum, 172
Poplar, balm of Gilead, 182
balsam, 182
Carolina, 183
cottonwood, 183
Lombardy, 184
necklace, 183
swamp cottonwood, 184
white, 184
_Populus_, 177, 181
_balsamifera_, 182
_deltoides_, 183, 184
_grandidentata_, 181, 182
_heterophylla_, 184
_tremuloides_, 179, 181
_Prunus_, 172
_avium_, 172
_domestica_, 172
_pennsylvanica_, 172
_persica_, 172
_serotina_, 171, 172
_virginiana_, 172
_Pyrus_, 168
_americana_, 170, 171
_communis_, 169
_malus_, 167
_sambucifolia_, 171
_Quercus_, 83, 85
_alba_, 85
_coccinea_, 95, 96
_macrocarpa_, 88, 89
_minor_, 91, 92
_palustris_, 96, 97
_platanoides_, 86, 88
_prinus_, 89
_prinoides_, 90, 91
_pumila_, 97
_rubra_, 93, 95
_velutina_, 92, 93
Redbud, 136
_Robinia_, 130
_hispida_, 131
_pseud-acacia_, 129, 130
_viscosa_, 131
_Rosaceæ_, 167
Rowan tree, 170
_Salicaceæ_, 177
_Salix alba_, 177
_babylonica_, 178
_nigra_, 179
Sapwood, 5
Sargent, quoted, 104, 107, 124, 135, 145
Sassafras, 7, 141, 147
_Sassafras sassafras_, 147, 149
Scars, 9
fruit, 9
leaf, 9
stipule, 9
Service berry, 173
Scott, quoted, 69, 180
Shad bush, 173
Shenstone, quoted, 70
Silkworms, 124, 125
_Simaroubaceæ_, 153, 159
Sour gum tree, 120
Spenser, quoted, 180
Stems, 8, 9
Stipules, 9
Sugar berry, 112
Sumac poison, 121
Sweet bay, 153
Sweet gum, 144
Sycamore, 117
Tamarack, 187
Tennyson, quoted, 40, 41
Thoreau, 24
quoted, 65, 148
Thorns, 8
_Tilia americana_, 141
_Tiliaceæ_, 141
Tree of heaven, 160
Trees, 3, 4
age of, 6, 8, 9
dool, 31
Trunk, tree, 5
deliquescent, 5
dicotyledonous, 5
excurrent, 5
Tulip tree, 153, 155
Tupelo, 7, 120
Twigs, 8
_Ulmaceæ_, 101
Umbrella tree, 154
_Ulmus_, 101, 105
_americana_, 102
_campestris_, 108, 110, 112
_Ulmus montana_, 111, 112
_pubescens_, 105, 106
_racemosa_, 107, 108
Vascular bundles, 10
Virgil, quoted, 110
Virgilia, 135
Walnut, black, 48
English, 49
Walnuts, 8, 9, 45
Willow, black, 179
“pussy,” 178
weeping, 7, 178
white, 177
Witch-hazel, 146
Wood, 5, 6
silver grain of, 6
Wordsworth, quoted, 189
Yellowwood, 129, 134
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Transcriber’s Notes
pg 106 Changed: used for imflammatory diseases
to: used for inflammatory diseases
pg 179 Changed: the only one anong our native willows
to: the only one among our native willows