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Larix × eurolepis A. Henry

Dunkeld or Hybrid Larch

Modern name

Larix × eurolepis A.Henry

Synonyms

L. henryana Rehd.

A hybrid between L.. decidua, the common larch, and L. kaempferi, the Japanese one, first raised about 1900 at Dunkeld in Perthshire, where considerable plantations of it are growing. The year-old shoots resemble those of common larch in their yellowish colour but show the influence of L. kaempferi in being sometimes slightly downy; also the bracts of the young cones are reflexed, this character being one of the best distinctive features of the Japanese species. The adult cones take after common larch in being conical, in having yellowish stalks, and in the bracts being occasionally exposed. I have seen plantations at Dunkeld and Blair-Atholl which are notable for their vigour and cleanliness. Hybrid seedlings have repeatedly been obtained from ten trees of L. kaempferi at Dunkeld that were raised from Japanese seed sown in 1884. They are evidently fertilised by pollen wafted on to them when in flower from numerous common larches growing near.

For the first half-century after it first arose at Dunkeld, L. × eurolepis was little planted outside Scotland, owing to the scarcity of seed. This is now being raised in quantity in special plots, where selected strains of the two parent species are grown intermingled. Vigour is at its maximum in trees from this ‘first-cross’ seed, and falls off in later generations (H. L. Edlin, Qtly. Journ. For., Vol. 57, p. 112).

The following examples of the Dunkeld larch have been recorded recently: National Pinetum, Bedgebury, Kent, pl. 1925, 70 × 5 ft (1968); Warnham Court, Sussex, 73 × 534 ft (1971); Colesborne, Glos., 92 × 614 ft (1971); Killerton, Devon, 79 × 6 ft (1970); Blair Atholl, Perths., pl. 1905 (original), 84 × 834 ft (1970); Dunkeld, Perths., 97 × 714 ft (1970); Murthly Castle, Perths., 98 × 612 ft (1970); Crarae, Argyll, pl. 1918, 74 × 6 ft (1969). The rapid growth when young is shown by a tree growing in the garden of Alan Mitchell, who has provided virtually all the tree-measurements given in this revised edition. Planted in 1963, it measured 27 × 112 ft in 1969.



From the Supplement (Vol. V)

It has been argued that the correct name for this hybrid is L. × marschlinsii Coaz (1917). See Int. Dendr. Soc. Year Book 1982, pp. 67-8, and also Irish Forestry, Vol. 37, pp. 112-18 (1980).

specimens: National Pinetum, Bedgebury, Kent, pl. 1925, 77 × 534 ft (1979) and 80 × 5 ft (1982); Warnham Court, Sussex, 73 × 534 ft (1971); Ashburnham Park, Sussex, 88 × 714 ft (1983); Colesborne, Glos., 95 × 712 ft (1985); Stourhead, Wilts., 98 × 812 ft (1980); Killerton, Devon, 79 × 6 ft (1970); Bodnant, Gwyn., 98 × 812 ft (1981); Yair House, Selkirk, 85 × 734 ft (1984); Munches, Kirkcud., 92 × 1014 ft (1985); Edinburgh Botanic Garden, 66 × 814 ft (1985); Dawyck, Peebl., pl. 1910, 85 × 812 ft and 82 × 834 ft (1982); Crarae, Argyll, pl. 1918, 82 × 612 ft (1976); Strone House, Argyll, 124 × 8 ft and 132 × 814 ft (1985); Blair Atholl, Perths., 80 × 914 ft and 88 × 7 ft (1983); Keir House, Perths., 108 × 712 ft (1985); Dunkeld, Perth, in Bishop’s Walk, 98 × 8 ft (1981) and another 108 × 712 ft (1983); Murthly Castle, Perths., 98 × 612 ft (1970); Glamis Castle, Angus, 88 × 814 ft and 100 × 612 ft (1981).

The tree planted by Alan Mitchell in 1963, mentioned on page 521, measures 56 × 234 ft (1982).

Genus

Larix

Other species in the genus