Wood: At 40 years of age, the European larch may be harvested for commercial timber use. The wood is strong, hard, heavy, coarse-grained and durable. In Europe it is used for poles, posts, vats, mine props, railroad ties, ship-building and construction. It makes good charcoal, but sparks freely and is not a good firewood. The wood is distilled to provide ethyl alcohol. Bark is used in tanning and dyeing, and in diuretic medicines, and larch turpentine is collected by tapping for use in veterinary medicines. Manna of larch, a white, saccharine substance exuded from the summer foliage, was formerly used in medicines.
Wildlife:The larch is of minor importance to wildlife. Grouse eat the foliage and buds. The seeds are eaten by red crossbills, and the bark and seeds feed porcupines, squirrels and hares.
Horticulture: This larch is an attractive,
elegant tree often used as a screen or specimen planting in the US. It grows
faster than most other conifers, is windfirm, and is recommended for conservation
plantings and landscaping. 'Fastigiata' is a columnar form, with short,
ascending branches. 'Pendula' has distinctly drooping branches. The Dunkeld
larch (Larix X eurolepis), a cross between the European larch
and the Japanese larch, is more resistant to insect or fungal attack. The
tamarack or eastern larch (L. larcinia), a native of Canada and northern
US, is sometimes planted in Iowa, but it is smaller and less attractive
than the European larch and requires acid soil.
