European Larch: How to recognise it and what it's used for

Larix decidua is a distinct varietal from the Larix species and the most common in EcoTree's regions. The French name for the European larch or common larch comes from a word in the Dauphinois language meaning honey. The Dauphiné region in Southeast France is where larches thrive best - so much so that they is also commonly called Pins de Briançon (after an Alpine city of the same name). Their naturally occuring area of distribution is across Briançonnais, Queyras, Ubaye, Dévoluy and Mercantour - the French Alps.

This conifer, a member of the Pinaceae family along with cedars , spruces , pines , and firs , is an exception among its kind. Larches lose their needles which turn yellow, red, and brown in the autumn before dropping. They are the only European conifers to have this quirk.

Dropping their needles helps to form a supportive humus for the seeds of other conifers.

In adulthood, they grow up to 30 to 40 meters. Their bark is greyish, cracked, and very thick on older specimens.

Their needles are somewhat leathery, forming rosettes on short branches or individually along long twigs . They are clustered in tufts composed of 35 to 40 needles along the twigs.

A monoecious species , their catkins bud in late spring. Male catkins can be recognized by their yellow hue. They are small, numerous, and hang down from the branches. They distribute their pollen on the wind and via insects that pollinate the female catkins which are fewer in number, a little larger, bright red in color, and face the sky.

The cones are brown ovoids measuring 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. It is not unusual to see both cones from the current year and the previous year at the same time. Squirrels, woodpeckers, and crossbills help spread them.

A slow growing tree, larches takes 20 to 30 years to reach only 3 or 4 meters. Their trunk is conical and narrow and sprouts drooping branches, like those of the spruce.

They can live for 600 years.