Larix griffithii
species of plant
Larix griffithii, the Sikkim larch, is a species of larch, native to the eastern Himalaya in easternmost Nepal, India (Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh), western Bhutan, and (in some interpretations) southwestern China (Xizang, Yunnan). It grows at 1,800–4,100 metres (5,900–13,500 ft) in altitude.
It is sometimes called the Himalayan larch, not to be confused with Larix potaninii var. himalaica, which is generally known as the 'Langtang larch'.
Description
It is a medium-sized deciduous coniferous tree reaching 20–25 m (66–82 ft) tall, with a trunk up to 0.8 m (2 ft 7 in) in diameter. The crown is slender conic; the main branches are level to upswept, the side branchlets pendulous from them. The shoots are dimorphic, with growth divided into long shoots (typically 10–50 cm (4–20 in) long) and bearing several buds, and short shoots only 1–2 mm (0.039–0.079 in) long with only a single bud. The leaves are needle-like, light glaucous green, 2–4 cm (1–2 in) long; they turn bright yellow to orange before they fall in the autumn, leaving the pale yellow-brown shoots bare until the next spring.
The cones are erect, ovoid-conic, 4–7.5 cm (2–3 in) long, with 50-100 seed scales, each seed scale with a long exserted and reflexed basal bract; they are dark purple when immature, turning dark brown and opening to release the seeds when mature, 5–7 months after pollination. The old cones commonly remain on the tree for many years, turning dull grey-black.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Larix griffithii” is species of plant. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Larix, griffithii and species, not as a finished interpretation.
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This entry incorporates text from “Larix griffithii” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.