CHAP. CXIH.

CONI'FERjE. la'rix.

2353

Cat.,e d. 1836. The intermediate, or Altaian, Larch . — According toLawson, this variety “ seems naturally possessed of a very strongluxuriant habit of growth, with pendulous branches, and very largeleaves; but, like many more Siberian or northern Continentalplants, it produces its leaves on the first approach of spring, and istherefore very liable to be injured by the cold changeable weatherto which this country, in the earlier part of the season, is so liable.”(Laws. Man. , p. 389.) We have only seen the plant at Messrs.Loddiges’s, which is 5 ft. high, with longer leaves than the species,but stunted and unthriving in its general appearance. It was intro-duced in 1816, or before.

Other Varieties. L. Fraseri is included in Comp. Bot. Mag., vol. ii. p.304., in a list of North American plants discovered and introduced byJ. Fraser and his son between 1785 and 1817; but we know nothing fartherof the plant.

Description. A tree, rising, in favourable situations on the Alps, and alsoin Britain , from 80 ft. to 100 ft. in height, with a trunk from 3 ft. to 4 ft. indiameter; and having a conical head. It is well described in Lawson’sManual, as having the “ branches subverticillate, and spreading horizontallyfrom the straight trunk; occasionally, however, rather pendulous, particularlywhen old. Branchlets also more or less pendulous. Leaves linear, soft,blunt, or rounded at the points,of an agreeable light green co-lour ; single or fasciculated; inthe latter case, many togetherround a central bud; spreadingand slightly recurved. Malecatkins without footstalks, glo-bular or slightly oblong; of alight yellow colour ; and, toge-ther with the female catkins, oryoung cones, appearing in Apriland the beginning of May; thelatter varying from a whitish toa bright red colour. Cones ofan oblong-ovate shape, erect,fall 1 in. in length, and of abrownish colour when ripe;scales persistent, roundish,striated, and generally slightlywaved, but not distinctly notch-ed on the margin; bracteas ge-nerally longer than the scales,particularly towards the base ofthe cones. Seed of an irregular or ovate form, fully A in. long, and morethan half-surrounded by the smooth, shining, persistent pericarp. Coty-ledons 5 to 7.” (Laws. Man. , p. 383.) The cones are ripened abundantlyin most parts of Britain, and the tree in many situations in Scotland dis-seminates itself as if it were a native, almost as freely as the Scotch pine.The tree, in its native habitats, is of a remarkably healthy and vigorous con-stitution, and particularly so, De Candolle remarks, in the trunk. Larcheswe, he says, rarely attacked by the Dermestes (Hylurgus, see p. 214.), whichis so formidable to pines and firs. (Quart. Joum. of Agr., v. p. 405.) Thewood of the larch is compact, and of a reddish or brown tinge; and, onfavourable soils, is said to be fit for every useful purpose in 40 years’ growth ;while that of the pinaster requires 60 years, and the Scotch pine 80 years.The greatest drawback to the wood of the larch is its liability to warp. AtBlair Adam, Ballindalloch, and other places, the tree springs up from seeds

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