Other Common Names:
Larch, American Larch, Hackmatack, Juniper, Black Larch, Alaskan Larch.
Juniper, as the majority of Islanders call it, occurs througout the province. No large extensive pure stands occur but is chiefly confined to boggy areas growing with balsam fir and black spruce. In better drained areas it is found with black, red and white spruce, trembling aspen and white birch. Tamarack seldom reaches a height of over 60 feet on P.E.I. with a diameter of over 18 inches.
It is our only conifer that sheds its. needles in the autumn. The trunk is cylindrical and nearly straight with very little taper for its length. With slight crowding, it clears itself of branches quickly. On young trees or those growing in dense stands the crown is narrowly pyramidal in outline, but as the tree becomes older the crown opens up and becomes irregular. Tamarack is the heaviest and strongest of our softwoods. Its resistance to decay makes it very suitable for posts, railway ties and telephone poles.
DESCRIPTION
LEAVES: Needle-like, 3 1/4 to 1 1/4 inches long, light green turning yellow in the autumn, borne singly on new shoots, arranged in brush-lick clusters of 12 to 20 on older twigs.
FLOWERS: May-June, with the leaves; unisexual. Male yellow female reddish, both on same twig.
FRUIT: Autumn; an erect short stalked chestnut-brown cone about 1/2 inchs long, with about 20 thin scales with concealed bracts; opening during the Autumn and winter, falling the second season.
TWIGS: Slender, pliable, orange-brown developing numerous spur shoots after the first season. The buds, small, rounded, dull dark red smooth and shiny.
BARK: Thin, at first smooth bluish-grey; later roughened by small, flaky, reddish-brown scales.
WOOD: Moderately heavy and hard, more or less oily, frequently spiral grained, non-porous; yellowish-brown with thin white sapwood.
The Tamarack is the Territorial tree of the Northwest Territories.
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