On the hillside across from Alparon Park in Troy, there is a stand of evergreen trees that appear as if they have died. Through the years I been asked why this stand of trees died. My answer is they did not die.

During the spring and summer months, the trees are very attractive, with their pale green needles, however in the fall, the needles turn yellow and drop to the ground, appearing if the trees have died. The trees are larch trees.

The larch tree is the only conifer — except for the bald Cypress of the south — that drops its needles in the fall and grows new needles in the spring. The larch tree is the deadest looking tree that you will ever see during the winter months.

Although the larch is classified as a conifer, it is an evergreen that loses its leaves every year. Trees lose their leaves because they cannot get enough water during the winter months and therefore they must shut down and become dormant. Evergreen trees do lose needles every year, but they can maintain needles all winter long because they do not require as much water to survive.

For example, a needle on a pine tree might be on the tree for three to four years before it is shed.

The larches have a central trunk that runs straight up through the tree. The branches, which are attached in a whorled pattern, are studded with knob-like short-shoots or spurs. The red buds, on the tips of the spurs, produce not only the leaves but also the flowers, which appear early in the spring before the foliage.

The larch’s scientific name is larix laricina. Larix is the classical Latin name for the European larch and the species name laricina is Latin and means like a larch. The larch with the common name of tamarack, grows from Maine and south to the mountains of West Virginia. Since the larch tree loves damp, dark and cold forests, it is found farther north than any tree in North America.

It is not a very important tree in the diet of wildlife; however grouse will sometimes feed on the leaves and buds. The red cross-bill eats the seeds and the snowshoe hare, porcupine and red squirrel all feed on the bark and the seeds to some extent.

The Native Americans dug the roots from the tamarack growing along beaver dams to use for sewing strips of birch bark into their canoes. These slender and long roots were especially tough and pliable. A friend, the late Tom Prutzman of Troy, made Native American tools from items that he found in nature.

One day he presented me with an authentic hoe made from the shoulder blade of a deer, which he tied to a stick, using larch roots. It would have been a typical tool used by a woman tending crops.

The frontier settlers used the roots of the tamarack to build boats because they have a natural angle. These roots were found in trees growing in shallow mud with hardpan underneath. This hard clay would reflect the growing roots and put the correct angle on them.

Tamarack is still used today in building small wooden boats. It is a very heavy, strong and durable wood. Before humans knew how to use creosote to protect wood in the ground, Tamarack trees were used for railroad ties, fence posts and telephone poles.

The Native Americans also taught others about the healing powers of the tamarack. John Josselyn, of the Bay Colony, wrote, “The turpentine that issueth from the Larch tree is singularly good to heal wounds, and to draw out the malice … of any ach, rubbing the place there-with.”

In a Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture book dated 1895, it was stated that the tamarack is a very rare tree in the state and found only in the colder, higher swampy areas.

Tamarack and larch are both types of deciduous conifers with distinct geographical distributions. Tamaracks are primarily found in our North America wetlands, while larch species are spread across Europe and Asia.

The two boundaries differ in climatic preference, with amarack favoring colder regions, and larch thriving in varied temperate zones.

Emerson wrote that because the tamarack wood is relatively incombustible, it would be valuable in construction of fireproof buildings.

Although most of our larch trees in Pennsylvania are Japanese larch, we do have some stands of European larch. I asked the late Jim Lacek, a retired forester, how to tell them apart. He suggested to me that I use this little memory trick: “if the twig has a yellowish cast, then it is gold like the little German hair, and you’re looking at the European larch. If the twig has a pinkish girl’s cast, then it is rosey pink like the rising sun, and you are looking at the Japanese larch.”

Our tamarack (American larch) loves to grow in cold swamps and bogs, however much of its preferred habitat has been destroyed. On Armenia mountain outside of Troy there is an area known as Tamarack Swamp, however a long time ago the swamp had been made into a lake and the tamarack trees disappeared.

Stands of American Larch can still be found growing in some swamps, in Sullivan County. This tree can be identified by its very small cones, much smaller than either the European or the Japanese Larches.

If you have seen a stand of evergreen trees that appeared dead, don’t worry. They are larch, and they will grow new needles next spring. These new needles will be very pretty, with the softest green color you will ever see.

The larch tree is an interesting tree, a member of the evergreen family and yet a deciduous tree.

Bill Bower is a retired Pennsylvania Game Commission Wildlife Officer. Read his blog and listen to his podcasts on the outdoors at www.onemaningreen.com.