Larch

Larch was first brought to Scotland just over three hundred years ago, from Northern Europe. Landowners could see its value in the landscape and as a timber tree. More recently the Japanese form of Larch was introduced, and the two accidentally crossbred, forming a variety that was especially well-suited to our environment and as a timber crop. It is a conifer but unusual in that it loses its needles in Winter. Gaelic for ‘needle’ is ‘snàthad’, pronounced ‘snaha’. Huge old specimens can be seen in parks and on country estates, and it is common in blocks with other conifers in plantations all over the country. It stands out against other conifers in Winter with its bare pale orange branches, in Spring and Summer with its bright green needles, and in Autumn when the needles turn bright orange before they drift down on the wind. The needle buds are small and round and numerous on the supple Winter twigs. The female flowers - the immature cones - are pink among the new foliage in early Spring. The flowers – in Gaelic ‘dithean’ - mature into cones as the year progresses. The young cones are pink maroon on the European Larch, turning flat-scaled and papery brown. On the Japanese Larch the young cones are light green, turning rounded and open and woody. The bark of young trees is smooth and lined, pale orange/brown, becoming scaly and rough as the tree matures. Lower branches are brittle and break off easily,. sometimes leaving behind a trickle of sweet-smelling resin. The main branches reach out and up, with graceful hanging twigs bearing the cones – ‘durchan’ in Gaelic. The pale reddish timber is hard and durable for a conifer, and has been much valued for fences and boats and roof shingles. Quite a lot of place-names with the Gaelic name ‘Learag’ have sprung up since the tree was brought here a few centuries ago.