TAMARACK LARCH TREE IN MY BACKYARD

TAMARACK LARCH TREE IN MY BACKYARD, a photo by Louise001 on Flickr.

Tamarack Larch, or Tamarack, or Hackmatack, or American Larch (Larix laricina) is a species of larch native to Canada, from eastern Yukon and Inuvik, Northwest Territories east to Newfoundland, and also south into the northeastern United States from Minnesota to Cranesville Swamp, West Virginia; there is also a disjunct population in central Alaska. The name Tamarack is the Algonquian name for the species and means "wood used for snowshoes".

It is a small to medium-size deciduous coniferous tree reaching 10–20 metres (33–66 ft) tall, with a trunk up to 60 centimetres (24 in) diameter. The bark is tight and flaky, pink, but under flaking bark it can appear reddish. The leaves are needle-like, 2–3 cm (0.8–1.2 in) short, light blue-green, turning bright yellow before they fall in the autumn, leaving the pale pinkish-brown shoots bare until the next spring. The needles are produced spirally on long shoots and in dense clusters on short woody spur shoots. The cones are the smallest of any larch, only 1–2.3 cm (0.4–0.9 in) long, with 12-25 seed scales; they are bright red, turning brown and opening to release the seeds when mature, 4–6 months after pollination.

Key characteristics:[3]

The needles are normally borne on a short shoot in groups of 10–20 needles.
The Larch is deciduous and the needles turn yellow in autumn.
The seed cones are small, less than 2 cm (0.8 in) long, with lustrous brown scales.
Larch are commonly found in swamps, bogs, and other low-land areas.