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Larix laricina, commonly known as the tamarack,[1] hackmatack,[1] eastern larch,[1] black larch,[1] red larch,[1] or American larch,[1] is a species of larch native to Canada, from eastern Yukon and Inuvik, Northwest Territories east to Newfoundland, and also south into the upper northeastern United States from Minnesota to Cranesville Swamp, West Virginia; there is also an isolated population in central Alaska.[2]

Article body

Description

Larix laricina is a small to medium-size boreal deciduous conifer tree reaching 15–23 m (49–75 ft) tall, with a trunk up to 60 cm (24 in) diameter.[3] The bark of mature trees are reddish, the young trees are gray with smooth bark.[4] The leaves are needle-like, 2.5 cm (1 in) short, light blue-green, turning bright yellow before they fall in the autumn, leaving the shoots bare until the next spring.[3] The needles are produced in clusters on long woody spur shoots.[3] The cones are the smallest of any larch, only 1–2.3 cm (3⁄8–7⁄8 in) long, with 12-25 seed scales; they are bright red, turning brown and opening to release the seeds when mature, 4 to 6 months after pollination.[4]

Key characteristics:[5]

  • 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 (3⁄4 in) long, with lustrous brown scales.
  • Larch are commonly found in swamps, fens, bogs, and other low-land areas.

Distribution and ecology

Tamaracks are very cold tolerant, able to survive temperatures down to at least −62 °C (−80 °F).[6] Trees in these severe climatic conditions are smaller than farther south, often only 3 m (10 ft) tall.[7] They can tolerate a wide range of soil conditions but grow most commonly in swamps, bogs, or muskegs, in wet to moist organic soils such as sphagnum, peat, and woody peat.[8][9][7]

Tamarack is generally the first forest tree to grow on filled-lake bogs.[10][7][6] Tamarack is fairly well adapted to reproduce successfully on burns, so it is one of the common pioneers on sites in the boreal forest immediately after a fire.[10]

The central Alaskan population, separated from the eastern Yukon populations by a gap of about 700 kilometres (430 mi), is treated as a distinct variety Larix laricina var. alaskensis by some botanists, though others argue that it is not sufficiently distinct to be distinguished.[7]

Associated forest cover

Tamarack forms extensive pure stands in the boreal region of Canada and in northern Minnesota. In the rest of its United States range and in the Maritime Provinces, tamarack is found locally in both pure and mixed stands. It is a major component in the Society of American Foresters (SAF) forest cover types Tamarack and black spruce–tamarack.

Black spruce (Picea mariana) is usually tamarack's main associate in mixed stands on all sites. The other most common associates include balsam fir (Abies balsamea), white spruce (Picea glauca), and quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) in the boreal region.[11] In the better organic soil sites in the northern forest region, the most common associates are the northern white-cedar (Thuja occidentalis), balsam fir, black ash (Fraxinus nigra), and red maple (Acer rubrum).[11] In Alaska, quaking aspen and tamarack are almost never found together.[11] Additional common associates are American elm (Ulmus americana), balsam poplar (Populus balsamifera), jack pine (Pinus banksiana), paper birch (Betula papyrifera), Kenai birch (B. papyrifera var. kenaica), and yellow birch (B. alleghaniensis).[11]

Tamarack stands cast light shade and so usually have a dense undergrowth of shrubs and herbs. Because the tree has an extensive range, a great variety of shrubs is associated with it. Dominant tall shrubs include dwarf and swamp birch (Betula glandulosa and Betula pumila), willows (Salix spp.), speckled alder (Alnus rugosa), and red-osier dogwood (Cornus stolonifera).[12] Low shrubs include bog Labrador tea (Ledum groenlandicum), bog-rosemary (Andromeda glaucophylla), leather leaf (Chamaedaphne calyculata), and small cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccos).[11][12] Characteristically the herbaceous cover includes sedges (Carex spp.), cottongrass (Eriophorum spp.), three-leaved false Solomonseal (Maianthemum trifolium), marsh cinquefoil (Potentilla palustris), marsh-marigold (Caltha palustris), and bogbean (Menyanthes trifoliata).[12] Ground cover is usually composed of sphagnum moss (Sphagnum spp.) and other mosses.[11][12]

Tamaracks are easily susceptible to fires, as they have shallow roots and thin bark.[13][3] The tamarack's shallow root system also leaves the susceptible to being knocked over by high-speed winds. It has also been discovered that abnormally high water levels often kill tamarack stands.[13] Flooding, mainly caused by beaver dams and newly constructed roads, can kill off stands and damage advantageous roots.[14][13]

Tamaracks are targeted by many species of insects. One of the most prominent damaging insect is larch sawfly, which is non-native.[3][13] They cause damage across their range and cause defoliation which can kill the trees within 6 to 9 years.[3][13] To lessen the problem parasites have been impotered to kill the larch sawflies in parts of Minnesota and Manitoba.[13] Another serious defoliator is the larch casebearer (Coleophora laricella). All tamaracks are susceptible to being killed by the larch casebearer, however recently the outbreaks of larch casebearer have been less severe.[13]

There are some other insects that can harm Tamaracks, including spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana), the larch-bud moth (Zeiraphera improbana), the spruce spider mite (Oligonychus ununguis) the larch-shoot moth (Argyresthia laricella), and the eastern larch beetle (Dendroctonus simplex).[13] Healthy trees are left mostly unaffected by eastern larch beetles.[13] Defoliation by the larch casebearer makes infestation of the eastern larch beetle more likely.[15][13]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Earle, Christopher J., ed. (2018). "Larix laricina". The Gymnosperm Database. Retrieved 2011-05-28.
  2. ^ "Larix laricina". State-level distribution map from the North American Plant Atlas (NAPA). Biota of North America Program (BONAP). 2014.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Uchytil, Ronald J. (1991). "Larix laricina". Fire Effects Information System (FEIS). US Department of Agriculture (USDA), Forest Service (USFS), Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory.
  4. ^ a b Parker, William H. (1993). "Larix laricina". In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). Vol. 2. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
  5. ^ Barnes, Burton V.; Wagner Jr., Warren H. (September 15, 1981). Michigan Trees. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0-472-08018-2.
  6. ^ a b Johnston, William F. (1990). "Larix laricina". In Burns, Russell M.; Honkala, Barbara H. (eds.). Conifers. Silvics of North America. Vol. 1. Washington, D.C.: United States Forest Service (USFS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 2015-12-04 – via Southern Research Station.
  7. ^ a b c d Uchytil, Ronald J. (1991). "Larix laricina". Fire Effects Information System (FEIS). US Department of Agriculture (USDA), Forest Service (USFS), Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory.
  8. ^ Earle, Christopher J., ed. (2018). "Larix laricina". The Gymnosperm Database. Retrieved 2011-05-28.
  9. ^ Parker, William H. (1993). "Larix laricina". In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). Vol. 2. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
  10. ^ a b Hogan, C. Michael (November 24, 2008). "Black Spruce". GlobalTwitcher.com. Archived from the original on October 5, 2011. Retrieved 2011-05-28.
  11. ^ a b c d e f Uchytil, Ronald J. (1991). "Larix laricina". Fire Effects Information System (FEIS). US Department of Agriculture (USDA), Forest Service (USFS), Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory.
  12. ^ a b c d Johnston, William F. (1990). "Larix laricina". In Burns, Russell M.; Honkala, Barbara H. (eds.). Conifers. Silvics of North America. Vol. 1. Washington, D.C.: United States Forest Service (USFS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 2015-12-04 – via Southern Research Station.
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Johnston, William F. (1990). "Larix laricina". In Burns, Russell M.; Honkala, Barbara H. (eds.). Conifers. Silvics of North America. Vol. 1. Washington, D.C.: United States Forest Service (USFS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 2015-12-04 – via Southern Research Station.
  14. ^ Calvo-Polanco, Mónica; Señorans, Jorge; Zwiazek, Janusz J. (27 June 2012). "Role of adventitious roots in water relations of tamarack (Larix laricina) seedlings exposed to flooding". BMC Plant Biology. 12 (1): 99. doi:10.1186/1471-2229-12-99. ISSN 1471-2229. Retrieved 17 September 2023.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)
  15. ^ McKee, Fraser (2015). "1.2 Factors associated with the increased tree-killing activity of eastern larch beetles". Biology and population dynamics of the eastern larch beetle, Dendroctonus simplex LeConte, and its interactions with eastern larch (tamarack), Larix laricina (PhD). University of Minnesota.
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