Japanese larch

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Japanese larch
Top of an old Japanese larch in winter.

Top of an old Japanese larch in winter.

Systematics
Class : Coniferopsida
Order : Conifers (Coniferales)
Family : Pine family (Pinaceae)
Subfamily : Laricoideae
Genre : Larches ( Larix )
Type : Japanese larch
Scientific name
Larix Kaempferi
( Lamb. ) Carrière
Flowering male (top) and female (bottom) cones of the Japanese larch.
Japanese larch cones
Young Japanese larch (stone pods near Suhl / Thuringian Forest)
Japanese larch sprouting in spring in the Teufelskeller nature reserve in Baden (Switzerland)

The Japanese larch ( Larix kaempferi (Lamb) Carriere. , Syn. : Larix leptolepis . (Siebold & Zucc) Gordon ) is a plant from the genus of the larch ( Larix ) in the family of Pinaceae (Pinaceae). It was named by the English conifer expert Aylmer Bourke Lambert in honor of Engelbert Kaempfer .

description

In contrast to the European larch ( Larix decidua ), the Japanese larch is characterized by a stiffer, broader spreading growth. The crown appears less compact and cylindrical, loosened up and expansive with age. The branches are horizontal and do not sag. The annual shoots are stronger than with Larix decidua and have a reddish color ( Larix decidua : yellowish). The tree reaches stature heights of a maximum of 50 meters. As with all larches, the needles are usually annual and bluish green than with Larix decidua .

Another important distinguishing feature: The scales of the cones in Larix kaempferi are slightly to clearly rolled up, in Larix decidua they are always close!

With its heart-shaped root system, the Japanese larch, like all larches, has the advantage over spruce and pines of combining both root forms - the shallow and deep root system. The broad, shallow root system opens up a large area as a catchment area for soil nutrients, while the deep central root can reach groundwater and enable greater resistance to wind throw.

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 24.

Occurrence

distribution

The home of the Japanese larch is central Honshu in Japan . It is used in its home as a forest tree as well as an ornamental tree . It can often be seen there as a bonsai .

In Central Europe , the Japanese larch is often cultivated specifically for forestry purposes. Occasionally it crosses with the European larch to make Larix × eurolepis A.Henry . This hybrid often shows higher growth rates than the parent species.

In the German forests , according to the Third National Forest Inventory (2012), with 83,000 hectares in the main forest cover , the Japanese larch accounts for 0.8 percent of the area.

Location requirements

The Japanese larch loves high humidity, but it is more sensitive to extreme temperature fluctuations between summer and winter than the European larch. In climates with high air and soil humidity, however, it seems to be superior to this.

Propagation and growth

The Japanese larch bears seeds for the first time after about 10 to 15 years, but a seed year is only every 3 to 7 years. The cones reach seed maturity in the year of fertilization. The cones remain on the tree, only opening when it is dry to release the small winged seeds.

The seeds do not need direct sunlight to germinate. They also go under pressure in the old stock. However, the young plants are very hungry for light and can tolerate less crown pressure when growing than the Norway spruce, for example .

With a sufficient supply of light, the Japanese larch grows very quickly. At the age of 10 years (not planted) it already reaches a height of up to 5 meters (Norway spruce: 3.5 m) and can thus keep up with the equally fast-growing Douglas fir .

particularities

Some of the saprophytes and mycorrhizal fungi that accompany the European larch also occur with the Japanese larch , such as the golden or yellow larch tubule and the hollow foot tuber .

In addition, rare lichens like to colonize older Japanese larches. Only recently, representatives of the bearded lichen genus ( Usnea ) were rediscovered on Japanese larches in the Thuringian Forest in the vicinity of Suhl , which have been considered extinct in the Free State of Thuringia for 30 and more years .

In the Südheide Nature Park (area around Hermannsburg), Usnees have been discovered mainly on larches since 1997, where they are much more common than on oaks or birches (originally).

Even if the Japanese larch is a little faster growing than the European larch, it is more susceptible to mealybugs.

Taxonomy

Larix kaempferi (Lamb.) Carrière has the following synonyms: Pinus kaempferi Lamb. , Abies kaempferi (Lamb.) Lindl. , Pseudolarix kaempferi (Lamb.) Gordon & Glend. , Larix orientalis Thunb. , Pinus japonica Thunb. , Larix leptolepis (Siebold & Zucc.) Gordon & Glend. , Abies leptolepis Siebold & Zucc. , Laricopsis kaempferi (Lamb.) AHKent .

Economic use

The Japanese larch is used for forestry like the European larch. The reddish wood of the Japanese larch is less resinous than that of the European species. As the stocks are often mixed, the wood is not classified separately.

But not only the direct use of wood is decisive for the forestry importance of the Japanese larch. In the mountain forest stock, which is subject to weather-mechanical stress, the forestry often deliberately introduces the Japanese larch to strengthen the stock. In the Thuringian Forest on the Mordfleckswand near Oberhof at an altitude of 900 m above sea level, Japanese larches have proven themselves in trial cultivation to restore a strongly climatically exposed area, the spruce stock of which had been destroyed by snow, wind break and air pollutants.

Use as an ornamental plant

Various cultivars have been bred for use as ornamental plants:

  • 'Blue Rabbit' - A bushy form with irregular growth with bluish needles.
  • 'Diana' - A shape with twisted, curved branches reminiscent of the corkscrew shape of the common hazel ( Corylus avellana 'Contorta' (Harry Lauder's Walking Stick)).
  • 'Pendula' (also called 'Inversa') - This is the generic term for various hanging forms of larch of unknown origin. They usually form a pot-shaped crown with clearly drooping branches.

literature

  • Reinhard Schober : The Japanese larch. A biological-yield research . (= Series of publications by the Forest Faculty of the University of Göttingen and communications from the Lower Saxony Forest Research Institute. Volume 7/8). Sauerlander, Frankfurt am Main 1953.
  • Reinhard Schober, Hans-Martin Rau: Results of the I. International Japanese larch provenance test . (= Writings from the Forestry Faculty of the University of Göttingen and the Lower Saxony Forest Research Institute. Volume 102). Sauerländer, Frankfurt am Main 1991, ISBN 3-7939-5102-2 .
  • Dietmar Aichele, Heinz-Werner Schwegler: The flowering plants of Central Europe. Franckh-Kosmos-Verlag, 1994. (2nd, revised edition. Volume 2, 2000, ISBN 3-440-08048-X .)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Tropicos. tropicos.org
  2. ↑ F. Kroiher, A. Bolte: Nature conservation and biodiversity in the mirror of the BWI 2012. In: AFZ-Der Wald. 21/2015.
  3. ↑ Martin Dethlefs, Thomas Kaiser: Are beard lichens returning? In: Contributions to the natural history of Lower Saxony. 53 (1), 2000, pp. 22-29.
  4. ↑ Rafaël Govaerts (ed.): Larix. In: World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP) - The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved April 12, 2019.
  5. ↑ Larix Kaempferi. ( Memento of the original from July 13, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: University of Connecticut: Plant Database  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.hort.uconn.edu

Web links

Commons : Japanese larch  - album with pictures, videos and audio files