Subalpine larch

Larix lyallii

''Larix lyallii'', the subalpine larch, or simply alpine larch, is a deciduous, coniferous tree native to northwestern North America. It lives at very high altitudes—1,800 to 2,400 m —in the Rocky Mountains of Idaho, Montana, British Columbia, and Alberta. There is a disjunct population in the Cascade Range of Washington.

Subalpine larch is hardy and can survive very low temperatures in thin rocky soils, which is why the tree is often found near treeline. However, it can grow in a variety of soils and with or without shade, as long as the soil is moist but well-drained.
Mount Stuart amid the larches Fall,Geotagged,Larix lyallii,Subalpine larch,United States

Appearance

''Larix lyallii'' is a small tree, growing from 10 to 25 m tall and shorter at higher elevations. It has a straight trunk with a sparse and somewhat conical crown. The branches are horizontal to the trunk, irregularly spaced and twisted. The twigs are finely hairy. The needles are four-angled, 20 to 35 mm long and crowded in groups of 30 to 40 on short spurs. They are pale blue-green and deciduous, turning golden yellow in autumn.

The seed cones, 2.5 to 4 cm long, are red-purple when young but become dark brown with age. They have thin scales and narrow bracts that extend over the scales. The bark is thin and turns from yellow-gray to dark red-brown with age. It also becomes deeply furrowed into small, scaly plates.

The tree is also one of the longest lived tree species. There is record of a specimen in Kananaskis, Alberta which was 1,917 years old in 2012.
Easy Pass Panorama Nothing quite like a pano to show off the mountains around here (and it's so easy to image stitch these days). I suppose most people think California or Colorado for this type of vista, but Washington has some really amazing alpine terrain. This area hasn't earned the nickname "The American Alps" for nothing. It's an amazingly wild area too. It's so rugged and remote that most of the area was not logged early in the century in favor of areas that were easier to access. It was also protected quite early - parts were set aside and protected as early as 1897. Pretty much only one paved road runs through the park and there are vast areas that remain totally roadless. Today 93% of the actual national park and a lot of the adjacent land is set aside as Wilderness Area, which means that no additional "improvements" - roads, buildings and the like can be made. This particular hike is not only breathtakingly scenic, remote and difficult enough to not be a mob scene on weekends, but also of geological interest. The pass that the trail runs up is partly inside of a fault line. There are some places that a small off trail detour to the cliff walls can show you grooves where the two different types of rock on either side of the fault rubbed together. This view is from a point up a bit from the pass and just shy of about 7,000 feet Fall,Geotagged,Larix lyallii,Subalpine larch,United States

Uses

The bark contains tannin and the wood is strong, heavy, and durable.

References:

Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.

Status: Unknown
EX EW CR EN VU NT LC
Taxonomy
KingdomPlantae
DivisionPinophyta
ClassPinopsida
OrderPinales
FamilyPinaceae
GenusLarix
SpeciesL. lyallii
Photographed in
United States of America