Japanese Larch
Larix kaempferi (Japanese Larch) is a vigorous deciduous conifer adorned with a round, straight trunk and long, horizontally spreading branches, and slender pendulous branchlets. The crown is conical, dense, becoming irregular, and more open with age. Unlike most cone-bearing trees, the Japanese Larch loses its foliage each winter. Among the earliest trees to come into leaf in spring, its gray or blue-green needles turn bright yellow before being shed in the fall. They are spirally arranged on long shoots and are spirally arranged in radial clusters of 20-35 on short shoots. Small, erect, conical, violet cones mature to orange-brown before turning dark brown when old. They persist on the tree, falling long after the seeds have dispersed. The bark is smooth and red-brown on young trees, becoming scaly and fissured, weathering to gray with age. Fast-growing and very hardy, Japanese Larch makes a wonderful specimen in a large landscape.
