Larix kaempferi

Japanese larch, known as karamatsu in Japan, is native to high mountains of central Japan and is a fast growing, large, dense, broadly-conical tree reaching 30 m tall.

• Shoots are dimorphic with long shoots (10–50 cm long) having several buds and short shoots (1–2 mm long) with a single bud .
• Leaves are needle-like, soft, 2–5 cm long, in bunches of 20–35 needles; colour is light green turning yellow to orange before they fall in the autumn.
• Pollen cones are ellipsoid, yellow-brown, with numerous bracts at base, short-stalked, 5–6 mm long. Seed cones are oval, upright, brown, up to 3.5 cm long with 30–50 scales, the tips curling outward. They are green when immature, turning brown and releasing seeds after about 4 months. Cones often remain on the tree for many years, turning gray-black.
• The twigs on Japanese larch are reddish where most other species are straw coloured. The scaly bark is orange-red.