Larix gmelinii, the Dahurian larch or East Siberian larch, is a species of larch native to eastern Siberia and adjacent northeastern Mongolia, northeastern China (Heilongjiang), and the Korean peninsula.
Larix gmelinii is a medium-sized deciduous coniferous tree reaching 10âÂÂ30 m tall, rarely 40 m, with a trunk up to 1 m diameter. The crown is broad conic; both the main branches and the side branches are level, the side branches only rarely drooping. The shoots are dimorphic, with growth divided into long shoots (typically 5âÂÂ30 cm long) and bearing several buds, and short shoots only 1âÂÂ2 mm long with only a single bud. The leaves are needle-like, light green, 2âÂÂ3 cm long; they turn bright yellow to orange before they fall in the autumn, leaving the variably downy reddish-brown shoots bare until the next spring.
The cones are erect, ovoid, 1âÂÂ2 cm (rarely to 2.5 cm; but 2âÂÂ4 cm in var. principis-rupprechtii) long, with 15âÂÂ25 moderately reflexed seed scales (26âÂÂ45 scales in var. principis-rupprechtii); they are green or red (rarely purple) when immature, turning brown and opening to release the seeds when mature, 3âÂÂ5 months after pollination. The old cones commonly remain on the tree for many years, turning dull grey-black.
The scientific name honours Johann Georg Gmelin. Due to the species' variability, it has acquired numerous synonyms in the botanical literature, including L. cajanderi, L. dahurica, L. kamtschatica, L. komarovii, L. kurilensis, L. lubarskii, L. ochotensis.
Dahurian larch intergrades with the closely related Siberian larch L. sibirica of central and western Siberia where their ranges meet along the Yenisei Valley; the resulting hybrid is named Larix ÃÂ czekanowskii. In cultivation, it has also been hybridised artificially by controlled pollination with European larch L. decidua and Japanese larch L. kaempferi.
, Plants of the World Online accepts four varieties:
Larix gmelinii forms enormous forests in the eastern Siberian taiga, growing at 50âÂÂ1,200 m altitude on both boggy and well-drained soils, including on the shallow soils above permafrost. It is unique in two respects, being the northernmost tree in the world, reaching 73ð 04' 32" N 102ð E as creeping forms of the trees in the tundra of the Taymyr Peninsula, 72ð 55' 07" N 106ð 08' E, and as comparatively vertical growing single trees and small groups of trees, 72ð 31' N 105ð 03' E at the Lukunsky grove and 72ð 28' N 102ð 15' E at Ary-Mas as the subtundra sparse forests which are situated both in the Taymyr Peninsula, Khatanga river basin, and also the most cold-hardy tree in the world, tolerating temperatures below -70 ðC in the OymyakonâÂÂVerkhoyansk region of Yakutia. One tree in Yakutia was recorded as being 919 years old.
Dahurian larch is occasionally grown in botanical gardens in Europe and North America; it is not an easy tree to grow in areas with mild winters as it is adapted to a long period of winter rest; the warm winter weather in Britain can tempt it into leaf as early as the start of January, with the tender young leaves then being killed by the next frost. In its native region, daily minimum temperatures above freezing do not occur until late May or June, with no further frost until the brief summer is over.
Larix gmelinii cone scales are used as food by the caterpillars of the tortrix moth Cydia illutana.