Scientific name: Larix gmelinii (Ruprecht) Kuzeneva 1920

Synonyms: Abies gmelinii Rupr., Abies kamtschatica Rupr., Abies ledebourii Rupr., Larix cajanderi Mayr, Larix dahurica Turcz. ex Trautv., Larix dahurica C.Lawson, Larix dahurica Turcz., Larix europaea var. dahurica Loudon, Larix heilingensis Y.C.Yang & Y.L.Chou, Larix kamtschatica (Rupr.) Carrière, Larix komarovii Kolesn., Larix ledebourii (Rupr.) Cinovskis, Larix middendorfii Kolesn., Larix ochotensis Kolesn., Larix pumila Doktur. & Flerow, Pinus dahurica Fisch. ex Turcz., Pinus kamtschatica (Rupr.) Endl., Pinus ledebourii (Rupr.) Endl.

Common names: Dahurian larch, Gmelin larch, Listvenitsa daurkaya (Russian), Luoye song (Chinese), Gui-matsu (Japanese)

Description

Tree to 30(-36) m tall, with trunk to 1(-1.5) m in diameter. Bark grayish brown to gray over reddish highlights, smooth at first, becoming progressively more scaly and finally breaking up into flat-topped ridges divided by shallow furrows at the base. Crown conical at first, open, broadening and becoming flat-topped with age, with long, slender horizontal branches turned up at the ends. New branchlets pale yellowish brown to reddish brown often waxy, hairless to densely covered with conspicuous reddish brown hairs, prominently grooved. Buds small, about 2-3 mm long, dark brown, variably resinous. Needles of spur shoots straight, 20-35 on each spur, soft, (1-)1.5-3(-4) cm long and 0.5-0.8(-1.0) mm wide, rich, bright green, turning yellow in autumn before falling. Midrib raised beneath and with narrow, white stomatal bands on either side and no or one or two inconspicuous, interrupted lines of stomates above. Pollen cones a little oblong, 5-7 mm long, yellowish brown. Seed cones oblong to spherical, (0.8-)1.5-3.5(-4.5) cm long, with 15-45(-60) seed scales, dark purplish green with red edges before maturity, ripening reddish brown to purplish brown, on a slender curved stalk exceptionally to 2 cm long. Seed scales roundly five-sided, the tip rounded or slightly notched, opening rather flat, hairless to densely reddish woolly on the outer face. Bracts about 3-4 mm long, shorter than and hidden by the seed scales, squared off or three-pronged at the end with a bristle tip up to 1(-2) mm long. Seed body 2-4 mm long, without resin pockets, the firmly clasping wing another 5-7 mm longer.

Northeastern Eurasia, eastward across eastern Siberia from its line of contact with Larix sibirica to the Russian Far East, south to Kamchatka, Sakhalin, and the southern Kurile Islands, the Korean Peninsula and vicinity, and near Lake Baikal, with an outlier in Hebei, Shanxi, and Henan provinces (China). Forming pure stands or mixed with other boreal forest conifers in the arctic lowlands to slopes of mountains southward on a wide variety of sites, including bogs and peat lands; 300-1,800(-2,800) m.

Conservation Status

Red List Category & Criteria: Least Concern

The assessment of the species as a whole is driven by that of its most widespread nominate variety: Least Concern. The global population of this extremely widespread species must count in the hundreds of millions of trees. Larix gmelinii occupies a very large area and therefore occurs in a wide range of habitats: on lowland subarctic plains, in river valleys, in mountains and also on the edges of moors and swamps. The soils are affected by permafrost over much of the range; the climate in large parts of its range is continental subarctic, with very cold winters, and relatively dry (400 mm to 500 mm in the Greater Hinggan Range) to extremely dry in the subarctic interior. In more maritime areas of the Russian Far East precipitation rises to 1,000 mm and more. It is the only tree species in E Siberia reaching the tree limit at 70º N, but in the more southern part of its range it is commonly mixed with Abies sibirica, Picea obovata and Pinus sylvestris. In the boreal coniferous forest it is a climax species only on permafrost or peaty soils. In the high swamps and bogs in Sakhalin and on the Kuril Islands it usually forms pure stands, but on somewhat drier sites it is mixed with Abies sachalinensis var. sachalinensis, Picea jezoensis, Alnus hirsuta, Betula japonica, Betula ermanii, and Salix spp. In central Kamchatka occurs a relict taiga forest with a mixture of Larix gmelinii and Picea jezoensis, accompanied by Betula sp. and with Pinus pumila and Juniperus communis var. saxatilis common in the understorey. In mountain ranges on the maritime seaboard of NE Asia conditions for mixed coniferous forest are more optimal and here Larix gmelinii grows with Abies nephrolepis, Abies holophylla, Picea obovata or Picea jezoensis, and Betula ermanii, locally also with Juniperus, Pinus pumila or Rhododendron sp. in the understorey. Dahurian Larch is an extremely important timber tree in the Russian Far East, where it provides building logs for traditional log houses, railway sleepers, fences, and gates, as well as timber for construction, ship building (in Japan and Sachalin), and the pulp industry. Its variability also extends to the suitability as a plantation tree for forestry outside its natural range; provenances from Siberia are prone to 'late' frosts (which actually means: lack of a proper cold winter that lasts until spring definitively arrives), while those of Japan and even Sakhalin are less likely to be frost damaged. Inter-specific hybrids have been produced in cultivation in Denmark and China, but probably have not been planted far beyond the trial nurseries. Due to the risk of frost damage this species and its varieties are rare in cultivation in more temperate parts of the world. This species is known from several reserves and also occurs in large numbers in very remote areas. No specific threats have been identified for this species.

References

Farjon, A. (2010). A Handbook of the World's Conifers. Koninklijke Brill, Leiden.
Eckenwalder, J.E. (2009) Conifers of the World: The Complete Reference. Timber Press, Portland.
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Cambridge, UK /Gland, Switzerland