Larix mastersiana

Rehder & E.H.Wilson (Sarg. 1914)

Common names

Masters larch; 四川红杉 Sichuan hongshan [Chinese] (Farjon 1990).

Taxonomic notes

Syn: Larix griffithii var. mastersiana (Rehder & E.H.Wilson) Silba (Farjon 1990).

Description

Trees to 25 m tall and 80 cm dbh. Bark fissured, gray-brown or dark brown. Branchlets pendulous; long shoots puberulent, yellow-brown, graying with age; short shoots 3-4 mm diameter, brownish yellow, densely pubescent. Leaves linear, 12-35 × 1 mm, keeled on both sides. Seed cones brownish purple, maturing brown, cylindric-ellipsoid, 2.5-4 × 1.5-2 cm. Seed scales obovate-reniform, 8-11 × 10-13 mm, lower surface densely pubescent, apex emarginate. Bracts exserted, dark brown-purple, broadly lanceolate, reflexed, 11-15 mm long. Seeds light gray, obliquely obovoid, 7-9 mm long including wing. Pollination April to May, seed maturity in October (Wu and Raven 1999).

Distribution and Ecology

China: W Sichuan at 2500-3500 m elevation (Wu and Raven 1999). Hardy to Zone 7 (cold hardiness limit between -17.7°C and -12.2°C) (Bannister and Neuner 2001).

Remarkable Specimens

No data as of 2026-01-11.

Ethnobotany

Timber is used for construction, railroad ties, and furniture, and the bark yields tannins. The species is also used for afforestation (Wu and Raven 1999).

Observations

No data as of 2026-01-11.

Remarks

The epithet honors Kew botanist Maxwell T. Masters (1833-1907), also remembered in Pinus armandii var. mastersiana. He described many conifers from 1879 to 1906.

Citations

Farjon, Aljos. 1990. Pinaceae: drawings and descriptions of the genera Abies, Cedrus, Pseudolarix, Keteleeria, Nothotsuga, Tsuga, Cathaya, Pseudotsuga, Larix and Picea. Königstein: Koeltz Scientific Books.

Sargent, C. S. (ed.) 1914. Plantae Wilsonianae, Publications of the Arnold Arboretum No. 4. Jamaica Plain, Mass. V. 2, pg. 28. Available online at https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org, accessed 2010.12.22.

See also

The species account at Threatened Conifers of the World.