Larch

larch

1. any coniferous tree of the genus Larix, having deciduous needle-like leaves and egg-shaped cones: family Pinaceae

2. the wood of any of these trees

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

larch

A fine-textured, strong, hard, straight-grained wood of a coniferous tree; heavier than most softwoods. See also: Douglas fir

Illustrated Dictionary of Architecture Copyright © 2012, 2002, 1998 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

larch

[lärch]

(botany)

The common name for members of the genus Larix of the pine family, having deciduous needles and short, spurlike branches which annually bear a crown of needles.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

larch, tamarack

A fine-textured, strong, hard, straight-grained wood of a coniferous tree; heavier than most softwoods.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

larch

symbol of bravery. [Tree Symbolism: Flora Symbolica, 175]

See: Bravery

Allusions—Cultural, Literary, Biblical, and Historical: A Thematic Dictionary. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

Larch

The Larch Project develops aids for formal specifications. Each Larch specification has two components: an interface containing predicates written in the LIL (Larch Interface Language) designed for the target language and a 'trait' containing assertions about the predicates written in LSL, the Larch Shared Language common to all.

["The Larch Family of Specification Languages", J. Guttag et al, IEEE Trans Soft Eng 2(5):24-365 (Sep 1985)].

This article is provided by FOLDOC - Free Online Dictionary of Computing (foldoc.org)

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Larch

 

conifer of the genus Larix of the family Pinaceae. Larches are large trees, measuring 30–35 m in height, with needlelike leaves that fall off during the winter. The leaves, which are soft and flat, are arranged spirally on the leading shoots and in clusters of 20–40 on shorter branches. The seed cones are globose or oblong; immature cones are reddish or green. They grow on the end of short stalks with leaves. The seeds ripen in the first year and are dispersed in the fall or the following spring. The opened cones remain on the tree for an additional two or three years. The small, winged seeds are distributed by the wind.

Larches are hardy and grow in most soils; however, they grow best in a sunny environment. There are ten to 12 species of larch (according to other sources, more than 20 species), distributed in the cold regions of the northern hemisphere (from the Himalayas to 71° N lat.). In the USSR they cover great expanses, climbing to the upper limit of the timberline. The most common species are dahurian larch (Larix gmelini) and the Siberian larch (L. sibirica).

Larch wood is durable, resilient, and hard. It is used for the construction of underwater installations, ships, and furniture; it also is a raw material for the production of pulp and paper and in the hydrolysis industry. Slashing the tree yields valuable turpentine oleoresins from which turpentine oil and rosin are produced. The bark is used for dye. Larches are decorative trees and are often planted in parks and gardens.

REFERENCES

Derev’ia i kustarniki SSSR, vol. 1. Moscow-Leningrad, 1949.
Dylis, N. V. Listvennitsa Vostochnoi Sibiri i Dal’nego Vostoka: Izmenchivost’ i prirodnoe raznoobrazie. Moscow, 1961.

V. N. GLADKOVA

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.