Larix gmelinii detail (12/11/2011, Kew, London)
Position: Full sun to partial shade
Flowering Period: N/A
Soil: Moist, Well Drained
Eventual Height: 30m
Eventual Spread: 13m
Hardiness: USDA Zone 1 – 8a
Family: Pinaceae
Larix gmelinii is a medium sized, slow growing, deciduous coniferous tree with an open, slender growth habit. The leaves of the tree are slender, bright shiny grass green with two whitish bands on the undersurface. The leaf apex is bluntly sharp with the central vein on it’s upper surface which is flat and a lower vein on its undersurface which is keeled. They are 1-2 millimeters long with only a single bud. The leaves turn yellow/ orange before they fall in autumn. The trunk may achieve a diameter of 1m. The bark of the tree is a dark brown colour, and split into scales in young trees and grey/brown with scaly, longitudinal checks, which become purplish red after scaling off in matured trees. The cones are erect, ovoid, 1-2 centimeters long. The young cones are a deep rosy purple in summer, ripening to a shiny pale brown. They have moderately reflexed seed scales.
Larix gmelinii, commonly known as the Dahurian Larch, is native to eastern Siberia, northeastern Mongolia, northeastern China and North Korea. It forms enormous forests in the eastern Siberian taiga, growing on both boggy and well drained soils. This tree is the most northernly growing ree in the world. It is also the most cold hardy tree in the world, tolerating temperatures below -70 degrees Celsius. The warm weather in Britain can tempt it into leaf as early as the start of January. The oldest tree of this type is around 919 years old.
The etymological root of the binomial name Larix is derived from the old Latin name for ‘Larch’. Gmelinii is derived from the name of Johann Gottlieb Gmelin, an 18th century German Professor and naturalist who traveled extensively in Siberia and Kamchatkag.
Larix gmelinii (12/11/2011, Kew, London)
Larix gmelinii may be useful to the landscape architect as a cold hardy specimen tree with fantastic autumn color. This tree may not tolerate the warm clime of the south of the UK as in it’s native habitat daily minimum temperature above freezing does not occur until May. It may be happy in the conditions provided by the Scottish highlands. It cannot grow in shade and requires moist soil.
Ecologically this plant is valuable in that it’s seed scales provided food for the Totrix Moth.
This plant prefers a moist humus rich soil. It will tolerate most pH of soil.
Maintenance: This plant requires little maintenance.
