About Tamarack
The Larix laricina is a small to medium-sized tree that can grow up to 66 feet tall with a 24-inch trunk in diameter. The Tamarack is considered a deciduous conifer, which means that it sheds its leaves every season, usually in the fall. The bark is tight and flakey in appearance and is pinkish in color on the outside, and red underneath. The male flowers are yellow-green and the female flowers are red. The needle-like leaves are a light blue-green that turn bright yellow before they fall off in the autumn, leaving pale pink shoots bare until the following spring.
The Tamarack's egg-shaped cones are tiny. In the first year, the cone is pink, as it matures it turns deep red, and, by the second year it turns a lustrous brown in the fall. The cone can stay on the branch for up to two years. The seed cones are small usually less than 3/4 of an inch long and have brown scales. Tamaracks tolerate the cold well and can usually be found near swamps, bogs, and other lowland areas. In Connecticut, they can also be found in mixed stands of trees.
Medicinal Uses of the Tamarack
The Abnaki used a decoction of the bark to treat coughs and, the Algonquin, make a cough medicine from the tree's needles and inner bark. In addition, the Algonquin found many uses for this tree. For example, they made a poultice of inner bark and needles that were used to treat infections. In another treatment, an infusion of young branches was taken as a laxative. Both the Abnaki and the Algonquin made tea from the needles and roots of this tree. The Anticosti used a decoction of bark from several trees including the Tamarack tree to treat kidney problems. The Chippewa made an infusion of the bark and used it to treat anemic conditions. They also made a dressing of chopped inner bark to treat wounds.
The Cree, Woodlands boiled the inner part of the bark and wood and applied it to frostbite or deep cuts; while a warm poultice of boiled inner bark was applied to help draw out infections. The Iroquois fermented a decoction of needles and roots that were taken to treat soreness, rheumatism, and fever. A fermented compound decoction was also used as a stimulant. The Malecite used an infusion of bark to treat colds and general tiredness. The Menominee used the bark to treat inflammation. They also used an infusion of bark as a veterinary aid for their horses.
The Montagnais used an infusion of buds as an expectorant. The Ojibwa used dried needles as a disinfectant and fumigator; and used the roots and bark as general medicine. The Ojibwa South boiled and crushed the needles and bark and used it as herbal steam to treat headaches and backaches. The Potawatomi used a poultice of fresh inner bark to treat wounds and infections; they also prepared shredded inner bark mixed with oats to keep the hide of their horses loose.
Practical Uses of the Tamarack
The Cree used parts of the Tamarack tree to make toboggans, snowshoes, and canoes. The Cree made a goose hunting decoy from Tamarack twigs. The making of Tamarack twig goose decoys as an aid in hunting has been passed down from generation to generation that continues today as an important part of Cree heritage.
Native Americans also boil and eat the tender spring shoots of Tamarack; they use the bark for tanning, and they grind the inner bark for flour.
Did You Know...
Connecticut's Notable Trees website established by the CT Botanical Society, The CT Urban Forest Council, and the CT College Arboretum lists a notable Tamarack tree in Glastonbury Connecticut that has a circumference of 72 inches and a height of 66 feet with an average spread of 36 feet. This tree is considered a Connecticut Champion.
This is one of the few conifer trees that is not an evergreen.
The lifespan of this tree is 180 years.
The tamarack can survive very cold temperatures of -65 degrees Celsius/-85 degrees Fahrenheit.
In Alaska sometimes tamarack branches have been used for runners on dog sleds.
The Ojibwa word for Tamarack is muckigwatig meaning swamp tree.
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