Plant Family: Pinaceae
Growth Form: Small to medium-sized tree with a conical shape.
Leaves: Flat needles from 2 – 3 cm long, found in clusters along the branches; they turn an attractive yellow in the fall before being shed for the winter, making this species our only deciduous conifer.
Bark: Thin, somewhat scaly, gray to reddish brown.
Cones: Small rounded cones, to 2 cm long and almost as wide; they usually stay on the tree into winter.
Habitat: Prefers the damp soils of lowlands and bogs, but is also found on sunny slopes.
Range: More common in northern New England, absent from Cape Cod and the southern coast; its range extends west to the Great Lakes and north into Canada all the way to tree line.
Similar Species: European Larch (L. decidua) is an introduced relative that has become naturalized in New England; it has longer needles and cylindrical cones, longer than wide.
Comments: In boggy soil Tamarack is typically found sharing habitat with Black Spruce. Tamarack is the Algonquian word for the tree.
