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| Larach bracts |
BARK Gray - brown, cracking with age.
LEAF Flat, soft needles, blunt or short - pointed tips, bright green.
FLOWER Males yellow; females pink - red
FRUIT Brown, egg-shaped cones, with smooth scales and visible bracts.
While other species have more important requirements, larach is a pioneer species which grows grows on poor soils that it helps enrich.
Larix decidua is a distinct variety from the Larix species and the most common in our regions. It owes its vernacular name of European Larch or Common Larch to the word ''mel'' meaning honey in the language of the Dauphinois, where it particularly thrives.
The conifer, a member of the Pinaceae family, like cedar, spruce, pine or the fir, is an exception among its kind. It loses its needles in autumn, which turn yellow, red and brown before dropping. It is the only European conifer to have this particularity.
It is by the fall of its needles that it favors the formation of humus favorable to the reception of the seeds of other conifers.
In adulthood, it reaches a height of 30 to 40 meters. Its bark is greyish, cracked, and very thick on old subjects.
The needles are somewhat leathery, inserted in a rosette on the branches short or separately on the twigs long. They are concentrated in tufts composed of 35 to 40 needles along the twigs.
Female species, it is at the end of spring that the kittens appear. Males can be recognized by their yellow color. They are small, numerous, and hang below the branches. They distribute their pollen with the wind and the insects that will pollinate the female kittens. Fewer in number, these are a little larger, bright red in color, and facing the sky.
The crones are ovoid, brown, and measure 3 to 4 cm. Their fine, pointed scales protect the brown, shiny, winged seeds, which they release at the end of summer. They remain attached to the branches for a long time, and it is not uncommon to observe cones from the current year and the previous year at the same time. Squirrels, woodpeckers or crossbills favor their dispersal.
Slow growing tree, it takes 20 to 30 years to reach a height of 3 to 4 meter. Its port is conical, narrow, and its dropping branches, like those of spruce. It can live 600 years.
This pioneer species grows on soil poor to enrich it. Its largest natural formations are located in Central Europe. In the Alps, it grows between 1400 and 2400 meters.
In its natural state, on the adret (sunny side), it is found below 1400 meters in the company of Scots pine, and on the ubac, it accompanies stone pine and spruce above 2000 m. It is still found in the company of rowan or country maple. This mountain species was however planted in the plains to take advantage of its wood and its ability to enrich poor soils.
This tree is very resistant to cold and can be acclimatized to a high rainfall. as well as a lesser. However, it does not support compact and hydromorphic soils which facilitate its infestation by larch canker. It does not support summer droughts quite well, but tolerates very high-temperature variations, up to 50 ° in the same day, in its natural mountain range. Its deep and highly developed root system fixes it firmly to the ground. It, therefore, needs deep soil to be able to settle there completely. It thus has exceptional wind resistance, so much so that windfall is very rarely deplored in larch trees.
This tree is sometimes called the oak of the mountain, because of the exceptional wood it produces. The fruit of slow growth it is the most durable and solid of the coniferous woods. Rot-proof, it is used for the design of boats, for frames, roof shingles, railway ties. Larch also has good medical properties thanks to its needles. Whatever the season is, larch is an elegant tree. It symbolizes maternal love because it very often offers food and shelter to squirrels, and birds often shelter there. Because of its impermeable bark, the owl appreciates it to house.
The European Larch is therefore the original gift for Mother's Day; a gift that embellishes every year!
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