Redpoll
The redpolls are a group of small passerine birds in the finch family Fringillidae which have characteristic red markings on their heads. They are placed in the genus Acanthis; the genus name Acanthis is from the Ancient Greek akanthis, a name for a small now-unidentifiable bird. The taxonomy of redpolls is unsettled, with several different closely related forms of redpolls which have been considered as anything from one to five species; some studies favour three species, but this is not definite. Global lists support either two species or a single species. Most genomewide analyses found differences in gene expression but no genetic divergence, suggesting that plumage forms have originated within a single interbreeding lineage, do not represent species boundaries. All redpolls are northern breeding woodland species, associated with birch trees, they are brown or grey-brown above and with a red forehead patch. The adult male's breast is washed in red, but in females and young birds the buff breast and white belly are streaked with brown.
The bill is yellow. Some birds young ones, are difficult to assign to species, they are seed-eaters, feed acrobatically like a tit. They have a metallic call, they lay four to seven eggs in a nest in a tree or, in the case of the Arctic redpoll, a large bush. They can form large flocks outside the breeding season, sometimes mixed with other finches; the species are: Arctic redpoll A. h. hornemanni A. h. exilipes Common redpoll A. f. flammea A. f. islandica A. f. rostrata Lesser redpoll Knox, A. G. and P. E. Lowther. Hoary Redpoll. In The Birds of North America, No. 544. The Birds of North America, Inc. Philadelphia, PA. Knox, A. G. and P. E. Lowther. Common Redpoll. In The Birds of North America, No. 543. The Birds of North America, Inc. Philadelphia, PA. Marthinsen, G.. T.. "Low support for separate species within the redpoll complex from analyses of mtDNA and microsatellite markers". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 47: 1005–1017. Doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2008.03.027. Common redpoll species account - Cornell Lab of Ornithology Common redpoll - Carduelis flammea - USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter
Larch
Larches are conifers in the genus Larix, of the family Pinaceae. Growing from 20 to 45 m tall, they are native to much of the cooler temperate northern hemisphere, on lowlands in the north and high on mountains further south. Larches are among the dominant plants in the boreal forests of Canada. Although they are conifers, larches are deciduous trees. Larches can reach 50–60 m; the larch's tree crown is sparse and the branches are brought horizontal to the stem if some species have them characteristically pendulous. Larch shoots are dimorphic, with leaves borne singly on long shoots 10–50 centimetres long and bearing several buds, in dense clusters of 20–50 needles on short shoots only 1–2 mm long with only a single bud; the leaves are needle-like. Larches are among the few deciduous conifers, which are evergreen. Other deciduous conifers include the golden larch Pseudolarix amabilis, the dawn redwood Metasequoia glyptostroboides, the Chinese swamp cypress Glyptostrobus pensilis and the bald cypresses in the genus Taxodium.
The male flowers are fall after pollination. The female flowers of larches are erect, small, 1–9 cm long, green or purple, brown in ripening and lignify 5–8 months after pollination; those native to northern regions have small cones with short bracts, with more southerly species tending to have longer cones with exserted bracts, with the longest cones and bracts produced by the southernmost species, in the Himalayas. The seeds are winged; the larches are streamlined trees, the root system are broad and deep and the bark is finely cracked and wrinkled in irregular plaques. The wood is bicolor, with yellowish white sapwood; the chromosome number is 2n = 24, similar to that of most of the other trees of the Pinaceae family. The genus Larix is present in all the temperate-cold zones of the northern hemisphere, from North America to northern Siberia passing through Europe, mountainous China and Japan; the larches are important forest trees of Central Europe, United States and Canada. They require a cool and humid climate and for this reason they are found in the mountains of the temperate zones, while in the northernmost boreal zones ones they are found in the plain.
At gen. Larix belong to the trees that go further north than all, reaching in the North America and Siberia the tundra and polar ice; the larches are pioneer species not demanding towards the soil and they are long-lived trees. They live in pure or mixed forests together with other conifers or more broad-leaved trees. In the past, the cone bract length was used to divide the larches into two sections, but genetic evidence does not support this division, pointing instead to a genetic divide between Old World and New World species, with the cone and bract size being adaptations to climatic conditions. More recent genetic studies have proposed three groups within the genus, with a primary division into North American and Eurasian species, a secondary division of the Eurasian into northern short-bracted species and southern long-bracted species; the genus Larix belongs to the subfamily Laricoideae, which includes the genera Pseudotsuga and Cathaya. There are eleven accepted species of larch subdivided on the basis of the most recent phylogenetic investigations: Larix laricina K. Koch – Tamarack or American larch.
Parts of Alaska and throughout Canada and the northern United States from the eastern Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic shore. Larix lyallii Parl. – Subalpine larch. Mountains of northwest United States and southwest Canada, at high altitude. Larix occidentalis Nutt. – Western larch. Mountains of northwest United States and southwest Canada, at lower altitudes. Larix decidua Mill. – European larch. Mountains of central Europe. Larix sibirica Ledeb. – Siberian larch. Plains of western Siberia. Larix gmelinii Kuzen. – Dahurian larch. Plains of central and eastern Siberia. Larix kaempferi Carr. – Japanese larch. Mountains of central Japan. Larix czekanowskii Szafer – Uncertain, its origin could be hybrid. Larix potaninii Batalin – Chinese larch. Mountains of southwestern China. Larix mastersiana Rehder & E. H. Wilson – Masters' larch. Mountains of western China. Larix griffithii Hook.f. – Himalayan larch. Mountains of the eastern Himalayas. Most if not all of the species can be hybridised in cultivation. Currently-accepted hybrids are: Larix × lubarskii Sukaczev Larix × maritima Sukaczev Larix × polonica Racib.
A well-known hybrid, the Dunkeld larch Larix × marschlinsii, which arose more or less in Switzerland and Scotland when L. decidua and L. kaempferi hybridised when planted together, is still treated as unresolved. Larix x stenophylla Sukaczev. Larch is used as a food plant by the larvae of a number of Lepidoptera species — see list of Lepidoptera that feed on larches. Larches are prone to the fungal canker disease Lachnellula ssp..
Shade tolerance
In ecology, shade tolerance refers to a plant's ability to tolerate low light levels. The term is used in horticulture and landscaping, although in this context its use is sometimes sloppy with respect to labeling of plants for sale in nurseries. Shade tolerance is a relative term, a complex, multi-faceted property of plants, not a single variable or simple continuum. Different plant species exhibit different adaptations to shade. In fact, a particular plant can exhibit varying degrees of shade tolerance, or of requirement for light, depending on its history or stage of development. Except for some parasitic plants, all plants need sunlight to survive. However, in general, more sunlight does not always make it easier for plants to survive. In direct sunlight, plants face desiccation and exposure to UV rays, must expend energy producing pigments to block UV light, waxy coatings to prevent water loss. Plants adapted to shade have the ability to use far-red light more than plants adapted to full sunlight.
Most red light gets absorbed by the shade-intolerant canopy plants, but more of the far-red light penetrates the canopy, reaching the understorey. The shade-tolerant plants found; the situation with respect to nutrients is different in shade and sun. Most shade is due to the presence of a canopy of other plants, this is associated with a different environment—richer in soil nutrients—than sunny areas. Shade-tolerant plants are thus adapted to be efficient energy-users. In simple terms, shade-tolerant plants grow broader, thinner leaves to catch more sunlight relative to the cost of producing the leaf. Shade-tolerant plants are usually adapted to make more use of soil nutrients than shade-intolerant plants. A distinction may be made between "shade-loving" or sciophilous plants. Sciophilous plants are dependent on a degree of shading that would kill most other plants, or stunt their growth. Plants applied multilevel adaptations to the changing light environment from the systemic level to the molecular level.
Various types of leaf movement for adaptation to changing light environment have been identified: developmental and active. Active movements are reversible; some plants use blue-light absorbing pigments as a sensor and pulvinar motor tissue to drive leaf movement. These adaptions are slow but efficient, they are advantageous to some shade plant that have low photosynthetic capacity but are exposed to small light bursts. Passive movements are related to drought, where plants employ passive adaptation like increasing leaf reflectance during high light or developing air-filled hairs. Developmental movements are irreversible. Chloroplast movement is one of the plant adaptations to the changing light at the molecular level. A study suggested that chloroplast movement shared the same photoreceptor with leaf movement as they showed similar action spectra, it is fast adaptation, occurring within minutes but limited as it can only reduced 10-20% of the light absorption during high light. Limitations of chloroplast movement could be the presence of other large organelles like vacuole that restrict the chloroplast passage to the desired side of a cell.
On top of that, chloroplast movement might not be efficient as natural light tends to scatter in all directions. Photosystem modulation is an example of a long term light adaptation or acclimation that occurs on the genetic level. Plants grown under high light intensity have smaller antenna compared to plants grown under low light. A study found that the acclimative modulation of PSII antenna size only involves the outer light harvesting complexes of PSII caused by the proteolysis of its apoprotein; the response towards higher light took up to two days upon enzymes activation. Reduction of outer LHC-II by half through proteolysis took less than a day once activated. By changing the PS numbers, plant are able to adapt to the changing light of the environment. To compensate for the reduction of the red light encountered by the plant grown under canopy, they possessed higher PS-II to PS-I ratio compared to the plant grown under the higher light; however the factors involved in the mechanism are not well understood.
Study suggested the protein phosphorylation including LHC-II is an important pathway for signal transduction in light acclimatization. In temperate zones, many wildflowers and non-woody plants persist in the closed canopy of a forest by leafing out early in the spring, before the trees leaf out; this is possible because the ground tends to be more sheltered and thus the plants are less susceptible to frost, during the period of time when it would still be hazardous for trees to leaf out. As an extreme example of this, winter annuals sprout in the fall, grow through the winter, flower and die in the spring. Just like with trees, shade tolerance in herbaceous plants is diverse; some early-leafing out plants will persist after the canopy leafs out, whereas others die back. In many species, whether or not this happens depends on the environment, such as water supply and sunlight levels. Hydrangea hirta is a shade tolerant deciduous shrub found in Japan. Although most plants grow towards light, many tropical vines, such as Monstera deliciosa and a number of other members of the family Araceae, such as members of the genus Philodendron grow away from light.
Citril finch
The citril finch known as the Alpine citril finch, is a small songbird, a member of the true finch family Fringillidae. For a long time, this cardueline finch was placed in the genus Serinus, but it is very related to the European goldfinch; this bird is a resident breeder in the mountains of southwestern Europe from Spain to the Alps. Its northernmost breeding area is found in the Black Forest of southwestern Germany; the citril finch was formally described by the German zoologist Peter Simon Pallas in 1764 under the binomial name Fringilla citrinella. The current genus name Carduelis is the Latin word for the European goldfinch, the specific epithet citrinella is the Italian word for a small yellow bird, it is a diminutive of the Latin citrinus meaning light greenish-yellow. The Corsican finch was at one time considered as conspecific with the citril finch but is now treated a separate species. Molecular genetic studies have shown that the citril finch is related to the European goldfinch; the citril finch weighs around 12.5 g.
It is greyish above, with a brown tinge to the back which has black streaks. The underparts and the double wing bars are yellow, it shares with its relatives a bright face mask which in this species is yellow. Sexes are similar, although young females may be duller below, juvenile birds – unlike in European Serinus species – are brown, lacking any yellow or green in the plumage; the song is a silvery twittering resembling that of the European goldfinch and that of the European serin. The main call is a tee-ee quite similar to the Eurasian siskin; the citril finch differs from the Corsican finch C. corsicana in habitat selection. While the mainland citril finch is rather restricted to subalpine coniferous forests and alpine meadows, the insular Corsican finch may be found in different habitats from sea level to the highest mountain slopes; the citril finch nests in conifers such as pines and spruces while the Corsican finch uses lower bushes such as tree Heath and bramble. Ranging more than its common eastern relative, the citril finch is classified as a Species of Least Concern by the IUCN.
Clement, Peter. Christopher Helm, London. ISBN 0-7136-8017-2 Cramp, S.. M. eds.. "Serinus citrinella Citril Finch". The Birds of the Western Palearctic. Volume 8. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Pp. 536–548. ISBN 0-19-854679-3. Förschler, Marc Imanuel & Kalko, Elisabeth K. V.: Breeding ecology and nest site selection in allopatric mainland Citril Finches Carduelis citrinella and insular Corsican Finches Carduelis corsicanus. Journal of Ornithology 147: 553-564. Doi:10.1007/s10336-006-0079-z Förschler, Marc Imanuel & Kalko, Elisabeth K. V.: Age-specific reproductive performance in Citril Finches Carduelis. Ardea 94: 275-279. HTML abstract Pasquet, E. & Thibault, J.-C.: Genetic differences among mainland and insular forms of the Citril Finch Serinus citrinella. Ibis 139: 679–684. Doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1997.tb04691.x Sangster, George: Genetic distance as a test of species boundaries in the Citril Finch Serinus citrinella: a critique and taxonomic reinterpretation. Ibis 142: 487–490. Doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.2000.tb04447.x Sangster, George.
Ibis 144: 153–159. Doi:10.1046/j.0019-1019.2001.00026.x Arnaiz-Villena, A. Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences. 54: 1031–1041. Doi:10.1007/s000180050230. PMID 9791543. Arnaiz-Villena A, Alvarez-Tejado M, Ruiz-del-Valle V, Garcia-de-la-Torre C, Varela P, Recio MJ, Ferre S, Martinez-Laso J.: Rapid radiation of canaries. Förschler, Marc Imanuel & Kalko, Elisabeth K. V.: Geographical differentiation, acoustic adaptation and species boundaries in mainland citril finches and insular Corsican finches, superspecies Carduelis. J. Biogeogr. 34. Doi:10.1111/j.1365-2699.2007.01722.x Förschler, Marc Imanuel. C.. Mol. Phyl. Evol. 52:234-240. Doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2009.02.014 Förschler, Marc Imanuel. V.. C.. "Inter-locality variation in breeding phenology and nesting habitat of the Citril Finch Carduelis citrinella in the Catalonian Pre-Pyrenees". Ardeola. 53: 115–126. Förschler, Marc Imanuel. "Flowering intensity of spruces Picea abies and the population dynamics of Siskins Carduelis spinus, Common Crossbills Loxia curvirostra, Citril Finches Carduelis citrinella".
Ornis Fennica. 83: 91–96. Van den Elzen, Renate & Khoury, Fares: Systematik, phylogenetische Analyse und Biogeographie der Großgattung Serinus Koch, 1816. Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg 215: 55–65. Audio recordings from Xeno-canto Oiseaux Photos Ageing and sexing by Javier Blasco-Zumeta & Gerd-M
Duke of Atholl
Duke of Atholl, alternatively Duke of Athole, named after Atholl in Scotland, is a title in the Peerage of Scotland held by the head of Clan Murray. It was created by Queen Anne in 1703 for John Murray, 2nd Marquess of Atholl, with a special remainder to the heir male of his father, the 1st Marquess; as of 2017, there were twelve subsidiary titles attached to the dukedom: Lord Murray of Tullibardine, Lord Murray and Balquhidder, Lord Murray and Gask, Lord Murray and Gask, in the County of Perth, Viscount of Balquhidder, Viscount of Balquhidder and Glenlyon, in the County of Perth, Earl of Atholl, Earl of Tullibardine, Earl of Tullibardine, Earl of Strathtay and Strathardle, in the County of Perth, Marquess of Atholl and Marquess of Tullibardine, in the County of Perth. These titles are in the Peerage of Scotland; the dukes have previously held the following titles: Baron Strange between 1736 and 1764 and 1805 and 1957. From 1786 to 1957 the Dukes of Atholl sat in the House of Lords as Earl Strange.
The Duke's eldest son and heir apparent uses the courtesy title Marquess of Tullibardine. The heir apparent to Lord Tullibardine uses the courtesy title Earl of Strathardle. Lord Strathtay's heir apparent uses the courtesy title Viscount Balquhidder; the Duke of Atholl is the hereditary chief of Clan Murray. The Dukes of Atholl belong to an ancient Scottish family. Sir William Murray of Castleton married daughter of John Stewart, 1st Earl of Atholl. Sir William was one of the many Scottish noblemen killed at the Battle of Flodden in 1513, his son Sir William Murray lived at Tullibardine in Perthshire. The latter's grandson, Sir John Murray, was created Lord Murray of Tullibardine in 1604 and Lord Murray and Balquhidder and Earl of Tullibardine in 1606. All three titles were in the Peerage of Scotland, he was succeeded by William Murray, the second Earl of Tullibardine. He married as daughter of John Stewart, 5th and last Earl of Atholl. Charles I agreed to revive the earldom of Atholl in favour of Lord Tullibardine's children by Lady Dorothea.
Tullibardine resigned his titles in favour of his younger brother, Patrick Murray, created Lord Murray of Gask and Earl of Tullibardine in 1628, with remainder to his heirs male whatsoever and with the precedence of 1606. John Murray, son of the second Earl of Tullibardine by Lady Dorothea Stewart, was created Earl of Atholl in the Peerage of Scotland in 1629, he was succeeded by the second Earl of Atholl. In 1670 he succeeded his cousin James Murray, 2nd Earl of Tullibardine, as third Earl of Tullibardine. In 1676 he was created Lord Murray and Gask, Viscount of Balquhidder, Earl of Tullibardine and Marquess of Atholl, with remainder to the heirs male of his body. All titles were in the Peerage of Scotland. Lord Atholl married daughter of James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby. On his death the titles passed to the second Marquess, he had been created Lord Murray, Viscount Glenalmond and Earl of Tullibardine for life in the peerage of Scotland in 1696. In 1703 he was made Lord Murray and Gask, in the County of Perth, Viscount of Balwhidder and Glenlyon, in the County of Perth, Earl of Strathtay and Strathardle, in the County of Perth, Marquess of Tullibardine, in the County of Perth, Duke of Atholl, with remainder failing heirs male of his own to the heirs male of his father.
All five titles were in the Peerage of Scotland. His eldest surviving son and heir apparent, William Murray, Marquess of Tullibardine, took part in the Jacobite rising of 1715, he was attainted by Act of Parliament. An Act of Parliament was passed to remove him from the succession to his father's titles. William was, on 1 February 1717, created Duke of Rannoch, Marquis of Blair, Earl of Glen Tilt, Viscount of Glenshie, Lord Strathbran in the Jacobite Peerage; the first Duke was succeeded by his third son, the second Duke. In 1736 he succeeded his kinsman James Stanley, 10th Earl of Derby as 7th Baron Strange and as Lord of Mann. On the death of his brother William in 1746, he succeeded to such as they were; the Duke's two sons both died in infancy. His eldest daughter Lady Charlotte succeeded him in the lordship of Mann. Atholl died in 1764 and was succeeded in the dukedom and remaining titles by his nephew, the third Duke, he was the eldest son of Lt-Gen Lord George Murray, sixth son of the first Duke, the same year he succeeded the House of Lords decided that he should be allowed to succeed in the titles despite his father's attainder.
He married the aforementioned Charlotte Murray, Baroness Strange. They sold their sovereignty over the Isle of Man to the British Crown for £70,000; the Duke and Duchess were both succeeded by the fourth Duke. In 1786 he was created Baron Murray, of Stanley in the County of Gloucester, Earl Strange in the Peerage of Great Britain; these titles gave him a seat in the House of Lords. Atholl sold his remaining properties and privileges in the Isle of Man
Conifer cone
A cone is an organ on plants in the division Pinophyta that contains the reproductive structures. The familiar woody cone is the female cone; the male cones, which produce pollen, are herbaceous and much less conspicuous at full maturity. The name "cone" derives from the fact; the individual plates of a cone are known as scales. The male cone is structurally similar across all conifers, differing only in small ways from species to species. Extending out from a central axis are microsporophylls. Under each microsporophyll is several microsporangia; the female cone contains ovules. The female cone structure varies more markedly between the different conifer families, is crucial for the identification of many species of conifers; the members of the pine family have cones. These pine cones the woody female cones, are considered the "archetypal" tree cones; the female cone has two types of scale: the bract scales, the seed scales, one subtended by each bract scale, derived from a modified branchlet. On the upper-side base of each seed scale are two ovules that develop into seeds after fertilization by pollen grains.
The bract scales develop first, are conspicuous at the time of pollination. The scales open temporarily to receive gametophytes close during fertilization and maturation, re-open again at maturity to allow the seed to escape. Maturation takes 6–8 months from pollination in most Pinaceae genera, but 12 months in cedars and 18–24 months in most pines; the cones open either by the seed scales flexing back when they dry out, or by the cones disintegrating with the seed scales falling off. The cones are conic, cylindrical or ovoid, small to large, from 2–60 cm long and 1–20 cm broad. After ripening, the opening of non-serotinous pine cones is associated with their moisture content—cones are open when dry and closed when wet; this assures that the small, wind disseminated seeds will be dispersed during dry weather, thus, the distance traveled from the parent tree will be enhanced. A pine cone will go through many cycles of opening and closing during its life span after seed dispersal is complete; this process occurs with older cones while attached to branches and after the older cones have fallen to the forest floor.
The condition of fallen pine cones is a crude indication of the forest floor's moisture content, an important indication of wildfire risk. Closed cones indicate damp conditions; as a result of this, pine cones have been used by people in temperate climates to predict dry and wet weather hanging a harvested pine cone from some string outside to measure the humidity of the air. Members of the Araucariaceae have the bract and seed scales fused, have only one ovule on each scale; the cones are spherical or nearly so, large to large, 5–30 cm diameter, mature in 18 months. In Agathis, the seeds are winged and separate from the seed scale, but in the other two genera, the seed is wingless and fused to the scale; the cones of the Podocarpaceae are similar in function, though not in development, to those of the Taxaceae, being berry-like with the scales modified, evolved to attract birds into dispersing the seeds. In most of the genera, two to ten or more scales are fused together into a swollen, brightly coloured, edible fleshy aril.
Only one or two scales at the apex of the cone are fertile, each bearing a single wingless seed, but in Saxegothaea several scales may be fertile. The fleshy scale complex is 0.5–3 cm long, the seeds 4–10 mm long. In some genera, the scales are minute and not fleshy, but the seed coat develops a fleshy layer instead, the cone having the appearance of one to three small plums on a central stem; the seeds have a hard coat evolved to resist digestion in the bird's stomach. Members of the cypress family differ in that the bract and seed scales are fused, with the bract visible as no more than a small lump or spine on the scale; the botanical term galbulus is sometimes used instead of strobilus for members of this family. The female cones have one to 20 ovules on each scale, they have peltate scales, as opposed to the imbricate cones described above, though some have imbricate scales. The cones are small, 0.3–6 cm or 1⁄8–2 3⁄8 inches long, spherical or nearly so, like those of Nootka cypress, while others, such as western redcedar and California incense-cedar, are narrow.
The scales are arranged either spirally, or in decussate whorls of two or three four. The genera with spiral scale arrangement were treated in a separate family in the past. In most of the genera, the cones are woody and the seeds have two narrow wings, but in three genera, the seeds are wingless, in Juniperus, the cones are fleshy and
Larix laricina
Larix laricina known as the tamarack, eastern larch, black larch, red larch, or American larch, is a species of larch native to Canada, from eastern Yukon and Inuvik, Northwest Territories east to Newfoundland, south into the upper northeastern United States from Minnesota to Cranesville Swamp, West Virginia. The word tamarack is an Algonquian name for the species and means "wood used for snowshoes". Larix laricina is a small to medium-size boreal coniferous and deciduous tree reaching 10–20 m tall, with a trunk up to 60 cm diameter. Tamaracks and Larches are deciduous conifers; the bark is tight and flaky, but under flaking bark it can appear reddish. The leaves are needle-like, 2–3 cm short, light blue-green, turning bright yellow before they fall in the autumn, leaving the pale pinkish-brown shoots bare until the next spring; the needles are produced spirally in dense clusters on long woody spur shoots. The cones are the smallest of only 1 -- 2.3 cm long, with 12-25 seed scales. Key characteristics: The needles are borne on a short shoot in groups of 10–20 needles.
The larch is deciduous and the needles turn yellow in autumn. The seed cones are small, less than 2 cm long, with lustrous brown scales. Larch are found in swamps, fens and other low-land areas. Tamaracks are cold tolerant, able to survive temperatures down to at least −65 °C, occurs at the Arctic tree line at the edge of the tundra. Trees in these severe climatic conditions are smaller than farther south only 5 m tall, they can tolerate a wide range of soil conditions but grow most in swamps, bogs, or muskeg in wet to moist organic soils such as sphagnum peat and woody peat. They are found on mineral soils that range from heavy clay to coarse sand. Although tamarack can grow well on calcareous soils, it is not abundant on the limestone areas of eastern Ontario. Tamarack is an early invader. Tamarack is the first forest tree to invade filled-lake bogs. In the lake states, tamarack may appear first in the sedge mat, sphagnum moss, or not until the bog shrub stage. Farther north, it is the pioneer tree in the bog shrub stage.
Tamarack is well adapted to reproduce on burns, so it is one of the common pioneers on sites in the boreal forest after a fire. The central Alaskan population, separated from the eastern Yukon populations by a gap of about 700 kilometres, is treated as a distinct variety Larix laricina var. alaskensis by some botanists, though others argue that it is not sufficiently distinct to be distinguished. Tamarack forms extensive pure stands in northern Minnesota. In the rest of its United States range and in the Maritime Provinces, tamarack is found locally in both pure and mixed stands, it is a major component in the Society of American Foresters forest cover types Tamarack and black spruce–tamarack. Black spruce is tamarack's main associate in mixed stands on all sites; the other most common associates include balsam fir, white spruce, quaking aspen in the boreal region. In the better organic soil sites in the northern forest region, the most common associates are the northern white-cedar, balsam fir, black ash, red maple.
In Alaska, quaking aspen and tamarack are never found together. Additional common associates are American elm, balsam poplar, jack pine, paper birch, Kenai birch, yellow birch. Tamarack stands cast light shade and so have a dense undergrowth of shrubs and herbs; because the tree has an extensive range, a great variety of shrubs is associated with it. Dominant tall shrubs include dwarf and swamp birch, speckled alder, red-osier dogwood. Low shrubs include bog Labrador tea, bog-rosemary, leather leaf, small cranberry. Characteristically the herbaceous cover includes sedges, three-leaved false Solomonseal, marsh cinquefoil, marsh-marigold, bogbean. Ground cover is composed of sphagnum moss and other mosses. Tamarack is monoecious. Male and female cones are small, either solitary or in groups of 2 or 3, appear with the needles. Male cones are yellow and are borne on 1- or 2-year-old branchlets. Female cones resemble tiny roses, they are reddish or maroon, have needles at their base which are shorter and bluer than the other needles on the tree.
They are borne most on 2 to 4-year-old branchlets, but may appear on branchlets 5 or more years old. Cones are produced on young growth of vigorous trees. On open-grown trees, cones are borne on all parts of the crown. Mature seed cones are brown, oblong-ovoid, 13 to 19 mm long; the wood is tough and durable, but flexible in thin strips, was used by the Algonquian people for making snowshoes and other products where toughness was required. The natural crooks located in the stumps and roots are preferred for creating knees in wooden bo
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