What is larch not everyone knows. What does it look like in nature, what are its properties, what is the difference from other conifers, how many species does this breed have, a description of this unique tree will be offered in this article.
Culture Description
The science of biology says that larch belongs to the gymnosperms, class Conifers, higher plants of the Pine family. About 150 million years ago, these unique plants dominated the planet. Today gymnosperms are represented by conifers, which include larch.
What does a larch tree look like?
There are several varieties of larch, but some of them are very similar to each other in appearance and growing conditions. The height of the tree on average reaches 50 m. The trunk is straight, covered with bark in the form of scales of gray or brown. In the girth, some larches reach more than 1 m. The branches have annual long shoots and perennial short and grow at right angles to the trunk, bending upward.
The length of the larch needles is 3-4 cm. The needles are soft, with a delicate green color. On long shoots, the needles are arranged in a spiral, the needles grow in bunches of 30-50 pcs., Which makes the larch crown openwork.
For your information! Perennial shoots live from 10 to 12 years. Sometimes they continue to grow and form growth branches.
Larch crown shape
The crown shape of larch at a young age has the appearance of a cone. Over time, when a tree grows taller and older, it takes a rounded, egg-shaped shape.
The larch root system can adapt to different types of soil. The tree adapts to the type of soil due to the plasticity of its roots, forming the accessory processes. In swamps, sands, stone heaps or in a dry hollow, larch grows using the peculiarity of its roots to be located on a vast area near the surface of the earth. The lower branches located below can take root, which further strengthens the roots and helps the tree withstand strong winds.
How to bloom
Upon reaching 15 or 20 years, the tree begins to bloom. Larch blooms in April or May. The flowering period lasts 1.5 weeks. Together with the new needles, fruits appear in the form of small cones. Since the tree is monoecious, it has female and male flowers. Female flowers look like small soft cones of green or red-violet color, similar to small roses. Mens form round light green spikelets. Moreover, heterosexual cones grow on the same branch.
Bloom
With the advent of September, the cones ripen. They have a rounded conical shape about 4 cm in size. The scales acquire a brown color, they are more coarse, woody. The winged seeds scatter after the cones mature, but in order to grow new trees from them, zero temperature and high humidity are needed. An obstacle on the way from the seed to the appearance of the tree is the great love of birds and mammals in the forests for seeds. Harvest of new trees varies from 5 to 9 years. Cones after seed dispersal can hang on the tree for many more years.
Where grows and how much
Larch is a coniferous and cold-loving tree. In the Northern Hemisphere, where larch grows, more than 70% of the forests are larch forests. It is found in Siberia, the Far East, North America, Western and Northern Europe, the Himalayas and Tibet. How many years larch lives depends on the place where it grows.
Note! The life expectancy of a tree is on average 400-500 years, although there are specimens whose age reaches 900 years or more. For example, in Crimea, and now there are trees, peers of the founding of the city.
Why drops needles
Larch is very fond of light, which is one of the most important factors in its successful growth. Sometimes she is called the daughter of the Sun. Its unpretentiousness to soils and harsh climate is amazing. The question arises, is larch a coniferous or deciduous tree if it sheds its foliage like other deciduous trees?
Tree in autumn
Of course, larch is a coniferous tree, but with the onset of autumn its needles turn yellow, and by the arrival of winter the tree discards it, like deciduous brethren. This is its distinguishing feature from other conifers. This is where the name of this tree comes from.
Important! In winter, it is easy to identify it by small round buds located along the entire length of the branch. Even without needles, this tree looks like openwork lace.
Tree in winter
Interesting Facts
Surely many did not know that:
- Larch tree wood has unique properties. The high resin content makes larch so strong and resistant to decay that buildings and things made from larch wood are preserved for centuries. With a long stay in the water, this tree acquires such a hardness that it is impossible to drive or pull out a nail without breaking it. During excavations in the Altai Mountains, larch products were found, whose age is more than 25 thousand years.
- Larch root wood is much stronger than the trunk. Products from rhizomes are practically immortal, although they are laborious to process. To this day, a bucket made in the 18th century is kept in the Zagorsk Museum. It holds 1.5 buckets of fluid.
- Siberians in ancient times knew about the healing properties of this tree. And today, a fragrant and tasty chewing gum made of its resin, containing volatile and trace elements that protect the oral cavity from infections and various diseases, is very popular. It completely replaces toothpaste if necessary.
- This tree has virtually no waste after processing. One cubic meter of its wood allows you to get up to 700 liters of ethyl alcohol, 200 kg of cellulose, 1.5 thousand m of artificial silk, and rosin, essential oil, paint, acetic acid and many other useful substances are extracted from the remaining waste.
Visually in nature, pine and common larch differ so that it is impossible to confuse them. Everyone knows what larch looks like and how it differs from pine. But in the form of wood, these trees are difficult to distinguish to an ignorant person. When buying building materials, you must be able to distinguish between these species, so as not to overpay, since larch is more expensive.
First of all, you should pay attention to the bark of wood. Larch has a dense structure, deep cracks and a reddish crust. Pine has a thinner bark of brown-yellow color.
Important! Larch is heavier than pine. If the board is moistened with water, you can see the difference in the structure of the wood.
The pine tree does not have a clear pattern, while the larch board has a marble pattern. When in the water, the larch will sink. If you set fire to wood, the larch board will light up later and will burn longer.
Due to the variety of species of larch, it is used not only in industry, but also in great demand in landscape design. There are more than 20 types of it in the world, many of which are capable of being worthy decoration of any garden. Due to the structure of branches and needles, the tree does not interfere with the penetration of sunlight for planting in the area under the branches.
Respect
Openwork crown, changing color from pale green in spring to golden in autumn, looks beautiful on a rocky hill, and when designing a garden path. Tall slender trees are preferably grown in large parks and gardens. For small garden plots, the best choice would be a standard. In the autumn, when the tree sheds needles, it is convenient to cut the branches and form a crown.
- For the design of garden plots, species such as European larch repens and Japanese pendula are most often used. Repens has a weeping crown a little more than a meter in size and reaches a height of 1.5 m, which is very convenient in the limited space of a small garden.
Japanese
- Japanese pendula grows up to 8 m and has a crown size of up to 4 m. Over time, the branches form a green-blue plume around the trunk, which looks very nice in any garden.
- In addition to the stands, dwarf breeds, such as camper, are used to decorate flower beds and paths. This species is a shrub that looks like a green pillow, it will decorate an alpine hill or path in the garden.
Kempfera
Due to its unique properties, larch is an elite building material. The high resinity of the tree protects the products from it from destruction by moisture, making the wood equal in strength to stone. Contact with both fresh and salt water increases its strength and makes it indispensable in shipbuilding and the construction of underwater structures.
For your information! A brief excursion into history will tell you that on larch stilts are Venice and St. Petersburg. Archaeologists have discovered ancient buildings of larch, whose age is more than 15 centuries.
Larch board
Over time, this tree does not collapse, but becomes stronger. The gum content and gum content in the wood keep it from decay and parasites. In terms of strength and suitability for construction, larch is not inferior to oak, but surpasses it in some ways. A straight and knotless trunk allows you to get lumber of excellent quality. Boards and planks have a beautiful pattern and 12 shades of color: from brown to golden.
Amazingly beautiful finishing materials from Siberian and Daurian larch are in increasing demand in the building materials market. Products from this wood are highly resistant to mechanical and climatic effects and retain their appearance during the entire period of operation.
This tree does not conduct heat well and has the ability to accumulate and accumulate it. Finishing the log house with such material allows you to keep warm in the house in winter and cool in summer.
Note! A long time ago, according to descendants, residents of areas where larch is a rare specimen looked for trees in the forests that shed needles in the fall, chopped them down and brought them to their yards to build a house. The wood for construction was hoarded for many years. It so happened that only an heir of several generations could build a house of larch.
In addition to resistance to decay, fire and pests, strength and beauty, larch has healing properties. The high content of nutrients, antioxidants and phytoncides in wood has a beneficial effect on the human body. A house built of wood of this breed will preserve health and relieve everyday fatigue and stress of the city bustle. Even many years after construction, wood does not lose its healing properties.
Important! In this case, we are talking only about Siberian larch, since European species in their properties are inferior even to pine and are not related to valuable species.
Pine board
The disadvantages of larch, as a building material, are its high cost and processing difficulty. Cargo transportation from Siberia, the impossibility of rafting along rivers, the high consumption of processing mechanisms and means make a house of such wood an expensive pleasure.
Larch is not only a unique tree, but also a mysterious one. Some of its mysteries have already been solved, but something else is covered in mystery. In ancient times, for many tribes, this tree was a cult. And today it is recognized as a symbol of Russia. But not only history and myths make this tree mysterious. Scientists have noticed that the stump of a felled tree continues to grow for many more years. It turned out that the larch groups that live in the immediate area around the felled tree form a single root system. Thus, the fantastic ideas of the movie "Avatar" about the natural "Internet" are quite real.
Note! Over the years, the stump cut on the stump completely closes, protecting other trees from infection, and at the same time, the stump still lives for many years due to the general nutrition of the entire root system.
Due to the high rate of photosynthesis, larch is a forest-forming species. Thanks to this property, the issue of urban greening can be resolved in the future. The experience of Yekaterinburg confirms that this tree is the best choice for gassed city streets. But this is not all the mysteries. By the nature of the arrangement of larch massifs and the chemical composition of their wood, scientists can determine with high accuracy the location of the exit of kimberlite pipes and the presence of diamonds. In this way, a diamond deposit was discovered in Yakutia.
Over the entire history of mankind, a lot of facts, discoveries and legends have been accumulated that tell about larch, about what an amazing tree of the Northern Hemisphere is that has unusual, unique properties and features. More than 20 species belong to this breed, which makes it possible to use it not only in construction, but also in garden design, exploration, medicine and just enjoy the beauty of larch forests.
