Tamarack heartwood is yellowish to russet brown, without the reddish tinge characteristic of western larch (Larix occidentalis). Sapwood is whitish and generally less than an inch wide.

Deciduous trees

deciduous

Larix laricina, also known as a tamarack or larch, is a deciduous conifer whose soft needles turn golden in the fall, drop from the tree and return each spring. The tamarack cones are tiny, and first-year growth starts as pink, then turns deep red followed by crispy brown by fall.

Tamarack (Larix laricina), also known as American larch, is a very unique member of the pine family — one that loses its needles in fall. Tamarack has a narrow trunk that is covered with thin, gray bark on younger trees and red-brown, scaly bark on older trees.

Cedar, redwood, cypress and other naturally rot-resistant woods are often hailed as the premier choice when building outside structures like decks, arbors or saunas….Naturally Rot-Resistant Species:

• Redwood.
• American mahogany.
• Cypress.
• Western red cedar.
• Pacific yew.
• Teak.
• Black walnut.
• White oak.

Edible parts of Larch: Inner bark – it can be eaten raw or can be dried, ground into a powder and used with cereal flours in making bread etc. A sweet-tasting manna is obtained from the trunk, it can be eaten raw but is mainly used medicinally.

Larix laricina

Tamarack produces a heavy, durable wood used mainly for pulp but also for posts, poles, and fuel. Laricina is Latin for larch-like. Tamarack comes from an Algonquin word, akemantak, meaning “wood used for snowshoes.”

Edible Parts The tender spring shoots are nutritious, and can be eaten when they are boiled. The inner bark (cambium layer) of the tamarack tree can also be scraped, dried and ground into a meal to be mixed with other flour.

In earlier periods, native Americans used the fine roots of the Tamarack to sew birch bark and the wood to make arrow shafts. The plant has limited edible uses. The needles are said to be edible and can be used to make tea.

between 200 and 300 years