Larix

Larches are deciduous conifers in the genus Larix, of the pine family, Pinaceae. Growing to as much as 60 m (195 ft) tall, they are native to the cooler regions of the Northern Hemisphere. They grow in lowland forests in the far north, and high in mountains further south. Larches are among the dominant plants in the boreal forests of Siberia and Canada, making them the most abundant genus of trees on earth. Larch wood is tough and relatively durable; it is used in boatbuilding, cladding, decking, garden furniture, fencing, and construction. Products extracted from larch include arabinogalactan, rosin, turpentine, and an essential oil.

Larix

Sciadopitys from UK · CC BY-SA 2.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
larchPBDB
Sits inside
PinoideaePBDB
Diet
"photoautotroph"PBDB, for Streptophyta

Time the record covers

At least 48 million years on record.

The record covers at least 48.07 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 66 Mya to 0 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 0 of 30 occurrencesPaleocene — about 0 of 30 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 2 of 30 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 1 of 30 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 11 of 30 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 1 of 30 occurrencesPleistocene — about 12 of 30 occurrences67–65 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences65–63 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences63–61 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences61–58 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences58–56 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences56–54 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences54–52 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences52–49 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences49–47 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences47–45 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences45–43 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences43–40 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences34–31 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences31–29 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences25–22 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences22–20 Mya — about 1 occurrence20–18 Mya — about 2 occurrences18–16 Mya — about 2 occurrences16–13 Mya — about 1 occurrence13–11 Mya — about 4 occurrences11–9.0 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences9.0–6.7 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences6.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences4.5–2.2 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.2–0 Mya — about 13 occurrences48.07 Mya11.7 ka67 Mya0 Mya

30 occurrences of Larix on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

30 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

10 formations

Chloropagus — 39.58°N, 119.37°WChloropagus — 39.58°N, 119.35°WMiddlegate — 39.25°N, 117.88°WHaughton — 75.41°N, 89.43°WBuffalo Canyon — 39.20°N, 117.78°WBeaverdam — 42.24°N, 114.08°WSalmon City — 45.18°N, 113.88°WBerchem — 51.29°N, 4.27°EBuchanan Lake — 79.92°N, 88.97°WMula — 29.10°N, 100.67°EAllenby — 49.45°N, 120.57°W

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The named rock units Larix has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 16 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Larix and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Larix and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

379 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 22 sites for Larix, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

16 references

Each of the 30 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 4 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Larix

Credit
Sciadopitys from UK
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Larix was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itPinoideae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Miller 1768