Pseudolarix amabilis (Nelson) Rehd.

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Pseudolarix amabilis' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/pseudolarix/pseudolarix-amabilis/). Accessed 2024-03-29.

Common Names

  • Golden Larch

Synonyms

  • Larix amabilis Nelson
  • Pseudolarix fortunei Mayr
  • Pseudolarix kaempferi of some authors, not (Lindl.) Gord.
  • Abies kaempferi Lindl. (1854), not Lindl. (1833)
  • Chrysolarix amabilis (Nelson) H. E. Moore

Other taxa in genus

    Glossary

    glabrous
    Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
    linear
    Strap-shaped.

    References

    There are no active references in this article.

    Credits

    Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

    Recommended citation
    'Pseudolarix amabilis' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/pseudolarix/pseudolarix-amabilis/). Accessed 2024-03-29.

    A deciduous tree, occasionally 100 to 130 ft high, with a trunk 2 to 3 ft thick; branches spreading horizontally; young shoots glabrous. Leaves linear, 112 to 212 in. long, 112 to 18 in. wide; produced in a radiating cluster from the end of short, spur-like branches, or on terminal shoots singly and spirally arranged. Their arrangement and general aspect are similar to those of larch, but the leaves are stouter and larger than those of any true larch. In spring they are of a tender yellowish shade of green, and in autumn they turn a rich golden yellow before falling. Male flowers yellow, produced in densely clustered catkins about 1 in. across at the end of the short, spur-like branchlets. Cones about 2 in. long, nearly as wide; the scales thick, woody, triangular, blunt, often notched at the tip, 34 to 114 in. long, ultimately spreading and falling away with the seeds.

    Native of China, where it was discovered in the Chekiang province and introduced by Fortune in 1854. Slow-growing, but perfectly hardy, it is one of the most beautiful as well as one of the most interesting of trees. The finest tree I have seen was in Messrs Rovelli’s nursery at Pallanza, on Lake Maggiore. This was nearly 70 ft high, and very fertile; when I saw it in 1912 there were beneath its boughs hundreds of young trees that had sprouted from its fallen seeds, varying from a few inches to 2 or 3 ft high. It dislikes limy soil.

    Among the notable specimens of the golden larch are: Kew, 56 × 534 ft (1970); Leonardslee, Sussex, 45 × 6 ft (1969); Sheffield Park, Sussex, 46 × 5 ft (1968) and 48 × 434 ft (1960); Wakehurst Place, Sussex, 20 × 412 ft (1970), at the junction of the entrance path with the Drive, and two others of about the same size, one on the Lawn and another in the Valley; Carclew, Cornwall, 64 × 734 ft (1962); Scorrier House, Cornwall, pl. 1872, 60 × 734 ft (1965).

    From the Supplement (Vol. V)

    specimens: Kew, 59 × 614 ft (1980); Leonardslee, Sussex, 51 × 614 ft (1979); Sheffield Park, Sussex, 52 × 534 ft (1982), the second tree mentioned is dead; Wakehurst Place, Sussex, near Entrance, 36 × 514 ft (1983); Carclew, Cornwall, 66 × 812 ft (1979); Scorrier, Cornwall, 69 × 814 ft (1973).