{"id":16543,"date":"2025-07-28T13:17:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T20:17:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/?post_type=book&p=16543"},"modified":"2025-07-28T13:34:22","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T20:34:22","slug":"16543","status":"publish","type":"book","link":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/book\/16543\/","title":{"rendered":"Golden Trees of the Mountain West: A Natural History of the Northwestern Larch"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"CoverStephen Arno has been writing about Pacific Northwest trees since the 1970s.\u00a0 In 2021, he published \u201cGolden Trees of the Mountain West,\u201d a profile of the two species of larch found in the Pacific Northwest, Larix <\/em>occidentalis, the western larch, and L. lyallii<\/em>, the alpine larch.\u00a0 Unlike most conifers, these species are deciduous and achieve glorious fall color in shades of gold.\u00a0 I have been in the Cascades during October and marveled at the bright yellow, almost chartreuse, of the western Larch, standing in contrast to the surrounding dark greens of other conifers.<\/p>\n

These two Larix<\/em> species thrive in different ecosystems.\u00a0 The western larch is a large tree, up to 200 feet in height.\u00a0 It grows fast to outpace the competition, as its seedlings are not tolerant of shade.\u00a0 The alpine larch grows at higher elevations, above 8,400 feet, and is smaller and slow growing with a maximum height of 80 feet.\u00a0 Both are restricted to east of the Cascades and on the west slopes of the Rockies, extending northward into Canada.<\/p>\n

Arno includes the history of how these trees were used by indigenous peoples and later by the timber industry.\u00a0 Most valuable are the detailed guides to places to drive or hike to see prominent forests of these magnificent trees.<\/p>\n

Reviewed by: Brian Thompson on August 22, 2023<\/p>\n

Excerpted from the Fall 2023 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stephen Arno has been writing about Pacific Northwest trees since the 1970s.\u00a0 In 2021, he published \u201cGolden Trees of the Mountain West,\u201d a profile of the two species of larch found in the Pacific Northwest, Larix occidentalis, the western larch, and L. lyallii, the alpine larch.\u00a0 Unlike most conifers, these species are deciduous and achieve glorious fall color in shades of gold.\u00a0 I have been in the Cascades during October and marveled at the bright yellow, almost chartreuse, of the…<\/p>\n

Continue reading Golden Trees of the Mountain West: A Natural History of the Northwestern Larch<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","keyword":[],"class_list":["post-16543","book","type-book","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book\/16543"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/book"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"keyword","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/keyword?post=16543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}