104. Larix Europaea DC.—The Common Larch.
Sex. Syst. Monoecia, Monadelphia. (Terebinthina Veneta, L. D.)
Botany. Gen. Char.—Flowers monoecious. Character as in Abies; but the cotyledons are simple, and never lobed. Cones lateral. Leaves, when first expanding, in tufted fascicles, becoming somewhat solitary by the elongation of the new branch (Bot. Gall.).
Sp. Char.—Leaves fascicled, deciduous. Cones ovate-oblong. Edges of scales reflexed, lacerated. Bracts panduriform (Lambert).
Hab.—Alps of Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Siberia, &c. Cultivated in woods.
Products.—This species yields larch or Venice turpentine. When the larch forests of Russia take fire, a gum issues forth from the medullary part of the trunks, during combustion, which is called Orenburgh gum (gummi orenburgense). A saccharine matter exudes from the larch, about June, which is called manna of the larch, or manna de Briançon. Lastly, a fungus, called Polyporus officinalis (see ante, p. 92), is nourished on this tree.
