case , the name means “ wood for snowshoes .” Tamarack prefers swampy , boggy conditions but will tolerate more open , dry sites . It is very cold tolerant — with a northern range limit at the Arctic tree line on the edge of the tundra ! Its cones are smaller than those of western larch . m
OTHER DECIDUOUS CONIFERS
Fall color on subalpine larches in the North Cascades . ( Photo courtesy Alan Majchrowicz
Photography , alanmajchrowicz . com )
According to “ Ethnobotany of the Okanagan-Colville Indians of British Columbia and Washington ” ( Turner et al . 1980 ), the leaf color change of western larch ( called tsikwlx ) is notable as a seasonal signal to the Okanagan- Colville tribe , as it coincides with the time in autumn when pregnant bears go into their dens for winter .
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow famously mentions the tamarack in his 1855 poem , “ The Song of Hiawatha ”:
Give me of your roots , O Tamarack ! Of your fibrous roots , O Larch-tree ! My canoe to bind together , So to bind the ends together That the water may not enter , That the river may not wet me !
The poem was inspired by Anishinaabe narratives , collected by 19th century Indian agent and ethnographer Henry Rowe Schoolcraft .
According to Canadian writer Bill Casselman , the species name of Larix laricina suggests it is “ the larchiest of larches .” The common name tamarack is a mishearing of the native Abenaki name akemantak , which follows the native tradition of naming plants by their uses . In this
Pseudolarix amabilis ( golden larch , or false larch ): Native to mountainous regions of China , this is probably the only tree one might mistake for a larch , even though it belongs to a different subfamily of the Pinaceae , or pine family . A large species — and the only extant member of its genus — it offers , like the larch , glorious golden fall color . However , according to Missouri Botanical Garden ’ s Plant Finder ( see missouribotanicalgarden . org / plantfinder / plantfindersearch . aspx ), golden larch cones are larger , the male catkin-like cones are held in clusters , and the female cones disintegrate to release their winged seeds . By contrast , larch catkins are borne singly , and the cones fall off in their entirety when ripe . In the Arboretum , you ’ ll find a grouping of five young golden larches growing in the Holly Collection .
Dawn redwood
Metasequoia glyptostroboides ( dawn redwood ): Another large tree from China , dawn redwood belongs to the Cupressaceae , or cypress family , and grows in wet lower slopes and stream valleys .
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