European Larch
 

Mature Size, Growth, Longevity

Average mature size 70-75' tall and 25-30' wide in the landscape, can grow to 100-140' tall in optimal conditions. Pyramidal with horizontal branches and dropping branchlets. Medium to fast growth rate, 2.5' per year in youth, slowing with time.

Native Range

Native to Europe.

Flower and Fruit Details

Monoecious flowers, red, pink, yellow, or green, 0.5" long, egg-shaped female strobili and the small yellow male strobili cover branchlets, early spring. Ovoid cones, 1-1.5" long, 0.75-1" wide, changing from red to yellow-brown to brown at maturity.

Leaf and Bark Features

Foliage A deciduous conifer with ochre yellow fall color. Young bark thin and scaly. Old bark thick, deeply fissured (splitting) at base, exposing a reddish brown inner bark and grayish brown outer bark.

Culture and Care

Transplant when dormant, into moist well-drained soil, in full sun. Prune in mid-summer. Zones 3a-6. Susceptible to larch case-bearer, cankers, leaf cast, needle rusts, wood decay, larch sawfly, woolly larch aphid, gypsy moth, tussock moth, Japanese beetle.

Taxa and Plants of this Species at BCA