Tamarack

Description:

The Tamarack is a small to medium-size deciduous coniferous tree reaching 33–66 ft tall, with a trunk up to 24 in diameter. The tamarack is not an evergreen. The leaves are needle-like, 0.8–1.2 in 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 on long shoots and in dense clusters on long woody spur shoots. The cones are the smallest of any larch, only 0.4–0.9 in long, with 12-25 seed scales; they are bright red, turning brown and opening to release the seeds when mature, 4–6 months after pollination.