Tamarack Larch
Overview
Tamarack Larch, or Tamarack, or Hackmatack, or American Larch (Larix laricina) is a species of larch
native to Canada
, from eastern Yukon
and Inuvik, Northwest Territories
east to Newfoundland, and also south into the northeastern United States
from Minnesota
to Cranesville Swamp
, West Virginia
; there is also a disjunct population in central Alaska
. The name Tamarack is the Algonquian
name for the species and means "wood used for snowshoes".
It is a small to medium-size deciduous
coniferous
tree
reaching 10–20 m (32.8–65.6 ft) tall, with a trunk up to 60 centimetres (23.6 in) diameter.The tamarack is not an evergreen.
Larch
Larches are conifers in the genus Larix, in the family Pinaceae. Growing from 15 to 50m tall, they are native to much of the cooler temperate northern hemisphere, on lowlands in the north and high on mountains further south...
native to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, from eastern Yukon
Yukon
Yukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada's three federal territories. It was named after the Yukon River. The word Yukon means "Great River" in Gwich’in....
and Inuvik, Northwest Territories
Inuvik, Northwest Territories
Inuvik is a town in the Northwest Territories of Canada and is the administrative centre for the Inuvik Region.The population as of the 2006 Census was 3,484, but the two previous census counts show wide fluctuations due to economic conditions: 2,894 in 2001 and 3,296 in 1996...
east to Newfoundland, and also south into the northeastern United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
from Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
to Cranesville Swamp
Cranesville Swamp Preserve
Cranesville Swamp Preserve is a preserve situated in Preston County, West Virginia and Garrett County, Maryland. It is one of the few remaining boreal bogs in the southern United States,...
, West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
; there is also a disjunct population in central Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
. The name Tamarack is the Algonquian
Algonquian languages
The Algonquian languages also Algonkian) are a subfamily of Native American languages which includes most of the languages in the Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from the orthographically similar Algonquin dialect of the Ojibwe language, which is a...
name for the species and means "wood used for snowshoes".
It is a small to medium-size deciduous
Deciduous
Deciduous means "falling off at maturity" or "tending to fall off", and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally, and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe...
coniferous
Pinophyta
The conifers, division Pinophyta, also known as division Coniferophyta or Coniferae, are one of 13 or 14 division level taxa within the Kingdom Plantae. Pinophytes are gymnosperms. They are cone-bearing seed plants with vascular tissue; all extant conifers are woody plants, the great majority being...
tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
reaching 10–20 m (32.8–65.6 ft) tall, with a trunk up to 60 centimetres (23.6 in) diameter.The tamarack is not an evergreen.
Unanswered Questions