Larix Occidentalis Care

Larix occidentalis- kind of coniferous tree from the kind of larch family Pine. In Western Europe, introduced in 1881, occasionally cultivated as an ornamental plant . In Russia introduced in the second half of the XIX century, culture is rare.

A tree with a height of 30-50 (up to 80) m and a trunk diameter of 90-120 (up to 240) cm, with short branches and a narrow-pyramidal crown . Young shoots are orange-brown, sparsely pubescent at first, then glabrous. The bark on young trunks is scaly, gray-brown, 8-15 cm thick. The buds are brown, glabrous. The needles are pale green, dull, 20-40 mm long, on shortened shoots in a bunch of 14-40 pieces. In St. Petersburg, needles appear in early May, like European larch , and, turning yellow, fall off in the second half of October, somewhat later than Siberian larch. Female spikelets are oblong-oval, purple or green, first appear in trees at 20-25 years of age, full maturity occurs at 40-50 years. Cones ovate-oblong, 25-35 (up to 50) mm long, 18-25 mm wide, consist of 7-12 rows of seed scales, widely diverging when ripe. Seed scales are rounded or truncated, often bent back; cover scales with long lanceolate tips, significantly protruding above the seed scales. Seeds are whitish, about 6 mm long, with a pale wing 12 mm long. 1 kg contains 225-340 thousand seeds; the weight of 1000 seeds is about 4 g. When the cones ripen, the seeds are sown in favorable weather within two weeks.