A Larch Tree
D-Mannose Pages
King of the forests
The larch tree is the only European coniferous tree with deciduous wood. In the autumn or fall, its thin needles turn golden yellow and shine through the woods and mountain slopes like fire. The larch tree then truly becomes king of the forests.
This outdoor show does not last. The larch eventually loses its thin needles; falling to the ground, they transform into humus which helps the growth of seeds and plants.
The larch tree grows to a height of eighty to over a hundred feet, and has been known to reach 140 feet. Its human neighbours like to protect it - it promotes the extension of pastures and it also holds the snow layers, thus helping to prevent avalanches.
A highly resistant bark
The larch tree grows well on sloping mountain sides, where the oldest rocks of the earth's crust crumble into crystalline fragments, in barren soils where nothing grows.
Pliny often refers to it, speaking of the incorruptible and incombustible nature of its timber.
The larch tree is remarkably cold-resistant. It is one of the only trees to be able to grow under extreme northern latitudes. A species from the Taiga, the boreal forest that covers a big part of Canada and of Siberia, it grows next to the birch tree, which is equally resistant.
The larch tree is able to endure ice cold temperatures in the winter, up to – 70°C ! In fact, the larch tree needs the cold to develop well and has been able to adapt to it for thousands of years. This was the reason for it losing its golden needles in the autumn.
Protected by a thick bark, the larch tree is not affected by the cold and is able to go through all kinds of weathers; moreover, it can resist most forest fires. It gives one of the hardest and most resisting woods : mountain alms used to be constructed with this material.
Venice used the wood for the piles upon which the city is built – a strong testimony to the strength of larch timber under the most destructive conditions. The wide tiles made out of larch tree do not rot and remain waterproof for decades. Long lasting once cut, the larch tree can also live for a long time while still in the ground. Some specimens live for centuries ; in Italy, there is a larch tree over a thousand years old !
A sacred tree
The larch tree plays an important role in the beliefs and cultural representations of Central and North-Eastern Asia. Yakut women believe that childless woman could conceive a child after spending a night under a larch tree with an unusual crown.
In a popular tale of the Tungu people, the larch tree becomes a sacred space where the main character abandons his past and his sense of identity : « he took off the skin that disguised his true form and hung it up on the top of a high larch tree ». Thus, the larch tree has been used by ancient people on the earth for its power of fertility and creation as well as of self re-creation and self discovery.