Plantae > Tracheophyta > Pinopsida > Pinales > Pinaceae > Larix > Larix decidua

Larix decidua (European larch; Common larch)

Synonyms:
Language: Chi; Cze; Dut; Fre; Ger; Hrv, Srp; Hun; Ita; Nor; Pol; Por; Rus; Slo; Spa; Swe

Wikipedia Abstract

Larix decidua, common name European larch, is a species of larch native to the mountains of central Europe, in the Alps and Carpathian Mountains, with disjunct lowland populations in northern Poland and southern Lithuania. Its life span is given by different authorities as anything between 100 and 350 years, but the most reliable is normally about 200 years. It is claimed that one of the larches planted by the second Duke of Atholl at Dunkeld in 1738 is still standing.
View Wikipedia Record: Larix decidua

Infraspecies

Larix decidua var. carpatica
Larix decidua var. decidua
Larix decidua var. polonica

Attributes

Air Quality Improvement [1]  Low
Allergen Potential [1]  Low
Carbon Capture [1]  Medium-Low
Screening - Summer [2]  Moderate
Screening - Winter [2]  Porous
Shade Percentage [1]  91 %
Temperature Reduction [1]  High
Wind Reduction [1]  Medium
Bloom Period [2]  Mid Spring
Drought Tolerance [2]  None
Edible [3]  May be edible. See the Plants For A Future link below for details.
Fire Tolerance [2]  None
Flower Type [3]  Monoecious
Frost Free Days [2]  90 days
Fruit/Seed Abundance [2]  Low
Fruit/Seed Begin [2]  Winter
Fruit/Seed End [2]  Winter
Growth Form [2]  Single Stem
Growth Period [2]  Spring, Summer
Growth Rate [2]  Moderate
Janka Hardness [4]  740 lbf (336 kgf) Soft
Leaf Type [3]  Deciduous
Lifespan [5]  Perennial
Pollinators [3]  Wind
Propagation [2]  Bare Root, Container, Seed
Root Depth [2]  3.346 feet (102 cm)
Scent [3]  The young shoots have a delicate mossy fragrance as the leaves unfold.
Seed Spread Rate [2]  Moderate
Seed Vigor [2]  Medium
Seeds Per [2]  76960 / lb (169668 / kg)
Shape/Orientation [2]  Erect
Specific Gravity [7]  0.474
Structure [3]  Tree
Usage [3]  Large quantities of resin are obtained by tapping the trunk; Small holes are bored into the trunk, most resin being obtained from near the centre of the trunk; When properly made, the same borehole can be used for 20 - 30 years; The resin has a wide range of uses including wood preservatives, varnish, medicinal etc; It needs no preparation other than straining through a cloth to remove plant debris etc; The hole is made in the spring and the resin extracted in the autumn; Resin can be extracted from May to October; The yield is about 40 grams per tree; A fast-growing tree that establishes itself rapidly and is also said to improve the quality of the soil, the larch can be used as a pioneer species on cleared and exposed land in order to assist the establishment of other woodland trees; The bark contains tannin; This is much utilized in N. Europe; On a 10% moisture basis, the bark contains 11.6% tannin; Wood - durable, tough, elastic, easy to split, takes a good polish; Larch produces one of the toughest woods obtained from conifers and is also resistant to woodworm; It is widely used in construction, for railway sleepers, cabinet work etc;
Vegetative Spread Rate [2]  None
Flower Color [2]  Red
Foliage Color [2]  Yellow
Fruit Color [2]  Brown
Fall Conspicuous [2]  Yes
Fruit Conspicuous [2]  Yes
Height [3]  148 feet (45 m)
Width [3]  49 feet (15 m)
Hardiness Zone Minimum [1]  USDA Zone: 3 Low Temperature: -40 F° (-40 C°) → -30 F° (-34.4 C°)
Hardiness Zone Maximum [1]  USDA Zone: 6 Low Temperature: -10 F° (-23.3 C°) → 0 F° (-17.8 C°)
Light Preference [6]  Mostly Sunny
Soil Acidity [6]  Moderate Acid
Soil Fertility [6]  Mostly Infertile
Soil Moisture [6]  Mostly Dry
Water Use [1]  Moderate
View Plants For A Future Record : Larix decidua

Protected Areas

Ecosystems

Predators

Providers

Consumers

External References

USDA Plant Profile

NatureServe Explorer

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1i-Tree Species v. 4.0, developed by the USDA Forest Service's Northern Research Station and SUNY-ESF using the Horticopia, Inc. plant database.
♦ 2USDA Plants Database, U. S. Department of Agriculture
♦ 3Plants For A Future licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
♦ 4Wood Janka Hardness Scale/Chart J W Morlan's Unique Wood Gifts
♦ 5PLANTATT - Attributes of British and Irish Plants: Status, Size, Life History, Geography and Habitats, M. O. Hill, C. D. Preston & D. B. Roy, Biological Records Centre, NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (2004)
♦ 6ECOFACT 2a Technical Annex - Ellenberg’s indicator values for British Plants, M O Hill, J O Mountford, D B Roy & R G H Bunce (1999)
♦ 7Chave J, Coomes D, Jansen S, Lewis SL, Swenson NG, Zanne AE (2009) Towards a worldwide wood economics spectrum. Ecology Letters 12: 351-366. Zanne AE, Lopez-Gonzalez G, Coomes DA, Ilic J, Jansen S, Lewis SL, Miller RB, Swenson NG, Wiemann MC, Chave J (2009) Data from: Towards a worldwide wood economics spectrum. Dryad Digital Repository.
♦ 8Biological Records Centre Database of Insects and their Food Plants
♦ 9Ecology of Commanster
♦ 10HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants Gaden S. Robinson, Phillip R. Ackery, Ian J. Kitching, George W. Beccaloni AND Luis M. Hernández
♦ 11Jorrit H. Poelen, James D. Simons and Chris J. Mungall. (2014). Global Biotic Interactions: An open infrastructure to share and analyze species-interaction datasets. Ecological Informatics.
♦ 12New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Plant-SyNZ™ database
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0