Western Larch Larix occidentalis
Species Paper by Lois Wythe
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Western
Larch / Tamarack
The leaves are very soft and deciduous needles, pale green until
they turn the characteristic golden in the fall.
They grow in circular clusters of 15 to 20 on the spur twigs and
singly on the current year’s growth.
When open, the cones are egg-shaped on short stalks, with wide
scales and long slender bract tips extending beyond the scales.
And this is a TALL tree, with the
Commercial uses: Western
larch yields exceptionally high quality construction materials.
The heavy, hard wood is used for poles and wherever strong
supports are needed. It also
makes good firewood and is frequently the wood of choice for woodstove
users. The bark contains a
water-soluble gum which is used for offset lithography and in
pharmaceuticals, paint and ink products.
(Arabino galactan)
Medicinal uses: You
may be surprised to learn that this tree was very important to the
Indians for its medicinal values and, as pointed out, is still used in
making some modern pharmaceuticals.
The sweet-tasting gum produced hardens when it is exposed to the
air and the Indians in our region would break off the gum and chew it.
Galactan, a natural sugar contained in the gum, resembles a
bitter honey and can be used in medicinals and as baking powder says
Parish, Coupe and Lloyd in their PLANTS OF SOUTHERN INTERIOR BRITISH
COLUMBIA AND THE INLAND NORTHWEST. (This
team is also responsible for the information that it was described by
Lewis and Clark in 1806, but not recognized until 1849 when it was named
by Thomas Nuttall.)
Medicinally, it is still used and recognized today.
Alma Hutchens, a noted authority on the uses of native American
herbs, tells us that it is the inner bark which is useful because of its
astringent and gently stimulating qualities and it was used especially
to activate enlarged liver conditions.
It is also diuretic and laxative, and good for poisonous insect
bites. In his famous BACK TO
EDEN, J. Kloss recommends it as a weak tea for eyewash and dropped in
the ear to relieve earache. As
a tea, it is prepared using a teaspoon of the inner bark to a cupful of
boiling water and steeped for 30 minutes.
It is used externally to clean ulcerated sores.
At the Arboretum, although most native conifers were
present when we began our work there, the Western larch was missing,
perhaps due to is enemy, the larch caseborer (Coleophora laricella)
which was a European import and is a major pest which feeds on the young
foliage. On Arbor Day in
2001, with the help of a group of young forestry students and some 4-H
children, we replanted a grove of larch near the Ella Street boundary
and they are about four feet tall by now.
Landscape use: If
your property is large enough for an additional tall tree, you might
like to consider tamarack, especially if you have children.
The soft foliage has much tactile interest for them, and the
changing colors are always interesting.
As punctuation among our many beautiful conifers on our
surrounding hills, it has little competition.
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