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European Larch -
Larix decidua Mill.
Pinaceae -- Pine Family
Larch trees are unusual in that they are conifers, like the pines, but
are not evergreen; they shed their needles every year, as do all
deciduous trees. |
The tree species Larix decidua is commonly known
as European Larch. It is native to the mountains of central
Europe, in the Alps and Carpathians, with disjunctive lowland
populations in northern Poland and southern Lithuania. It
has been naturalized and cultivated in North America,
chiefly in the United States of Connecticut, Illinois,
Maryland, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania,
Rhode Island, and Vermont, as well as the Canadian Provinces
Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
A long-lived, large deciduous coniferous tree reaching 35
meters, with a trunk up to 1 m diameter, the European larch
can grow in stands of ramrod-straight trees and narrow
crowns (Fig. 1). The crown is conic when young, becoming
broad with age; the main branches are level to upswept, with
the side branches often pendulous. The shoots are dimorphic,
with growth divided into long shoots (typically 10-50 cm
long) and bearing several buds, and short shoots only 1-2 mm
long with only a single bud. Inconspicuous red flowers bloom
in mid-spring. The leaves are needle-like, light green, 2-4
cm long which turn bright yellow before they fall in the
autumn, leaving the pale yellow-buff shoots bare until the
next spring.
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Classification:
Larix decidua Mill.
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- Native:
- EUROPE
Middle Europe: Austria;
Czechoslovakia; Germany [s.];
Poland; Switzerland
East Europe: Ukraine
[n.w.]
Southeastern Europe: Italy
[n.]; Romania
Southwestern Europe: France
[s.e.]
- Cultivated & naturalized elsewhere
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Larch
wood is tough and
durable, and is
particularly valued for
veneer and timbers for
in yacht building. It is
also used as sawn
lumber, pulpwood and
fence posts and as a
source of
Venice turpentine.
Venice turpentine is a
viscous liquid resin;
such resins exude from
certain trees and are
often referred to as
balsams. Venice
turpentine has been used
in painting for
centuries and has
excellent handling and
aging characteristics.
It should not be
confused with the
thinners gum turpentine
or rectified turpentine.
Venice turpentine is
used as an additive to
thicken other media.
This resin is popular
because it gives body to
the paint film while
maintaining gloss and
brilliance, and it
yellows very little over
time. Genuine Venice
turpentine is not easily
found and some companies
are using a substitute
resin called Canada
balsam. Canada balsam
has two advantages over
Venice turpentine-it
dries more clearly and
it takes only one or two
hours to dry, as opposed
to three days for Venice
turpentine. However,
Canada balsam has a
distinct disadvantage in
that it is more fluid
than Venice turpentine.
(3)
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| The cones are erect,
ovoid-conic, 2-6 cm long, with
30-70 erect or slightly incurved
(not reflexed) seed scales; they
are green variably flushed red
when immature, turning brown and
opening to release the seeds
when mature, 4-6 months after
pollination. They are borne
upswept on the stems. The old
cones commonly remain on the
tree for many years, turning
dull grey-black. The little
twig-nibs, or whatever they are,
remind me of those on the
ginkgo
tree. |
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