Larix sibirica

Siberian larch is native to the western Russia, from close to the Finnish border east to the Yenisei valley in central Siberia, where it hybridises with the Dahurian larch ( L. gmelinii) of eastern Siberia. It is a spectacular, large, straight trunked tree and can reach up to 55 m tall.

• Crown is narrow, conical, branches reaching out horizontally in natural stands.
• The shoots are dimorphic, with long shoots (10–50 cm long) bearing several buds, and short shoots only (1–2 mm long) with only a single bud. It has bimorphic needles, with needles on new growth borne singly and arranged in a spiral around the branch and needles on older wood borne in clusters of 15-40 needles on short spurs.
• It is distinguished from the closely related European larch (L. decidua) by the downy shoots (shoots are hairless in European larch).
• Tree is monoecious (males and females on same tree); male cones are solitary, yellow, globose to oblong, 4–8 mm diameter, and produce wingless pollen.
• Mature female cones are erect, ovoid-conic, 2–5 cm long, with 30-70 erect or slightly incurved (not reflexed) and downy seed scales; they are green variably flushed red when immature, turning brown and opening to release the winged seeds when mature, 4–6 months after pollination. The old cones commonly remain on the tree for many years, turning dull grey-black.