The common Larch is a deciduous conifer
growing up to around 35m forming a tall, narrowly conical tree (when growing
alone) but is more commonly seen in close rows in plantations. Its bark is
rough and greyish brown, becoming fissured with age. Its branches are mostly
horizontal but the lower branches on older trees may be slightly droopy. Its
leaves are needle like, in bunches of around 40, each needle is around 3cm long
and fresh green when opened, becoming darker with two yellow bands in the
summer and then changing through red to yellow before falling in the autumn.
The tree produces female cones, with a
slightly reddish tinge in spring, maturing to a woody brown through the summer.
These cones are an ovoid shape. Its male reproductive parts are small soft
yellow cones releasing pollen in spring.
The species is native to the mountains of
central and eastern Europe but has been long established in Britain as an
ornamental tree in gardens. It tolerates calcareous soils. Its seed is a
favourite food of the Common Crossbill, a bird who’s beak is uniquely formed to
part the cone scales to extract the seeds. The species I have photographed has
been planted in an ornamental garden in a public park.
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