Outdoor Visits by Edith M. Patch

Some Trees with Cones

§ 3. Tamarack

"Come and look at all these little brown cones, Nan," said Don. "They are growing on a tree with no leaves on its branches in the winter time."

The cones were less than an inch long. They were all open. There were no seeds left in them.

Don and Nan picked some cones and ran to the farm house.

Uncle Tom looked at the cones and asked, "Can you tell me how the leaves grow on this kind of tree?"

Don laughed and said, "The tree has no leaves at all in winter. So I do not know how they grow."

"It has cones but it is not an evergreen tree," said Nan.

"One name for the tree is Larch and another is Tamarack," Uncle Tom told them.

Tamarack leaves grow in clusters. There are many fine short leaves in each cluster. They are green in summer. They turn yellow in the fall and then drop to the ground.

The cones are red in summer and brown in the fall.