Coniferous tree with alternating bunches of short needles (Toronto area)

Question

What species of tree is this?

• Location: East of Toronto, zone 6; urban
• Date of photos: May 10, 2022
• Diameter at breast height: ~18 inches
• Height: ~30 ft

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Answer 1

Short Answer

Larix laricina, commonly called Tamarack or American Larch is a deciduous conifer with short-needle-like leaves arranged in bunched fascicles in a alternating (sometimes whorled) arrangement around short stems. The tree is the only species of Larix native to the Toronto region.

^{Larix laricina stem Source: UWGB Herbarium}

Long Answer

This is a larch tree in the genus Larix. These deciduous conifer trees characteristically have fascicles, or bunches, of short, needle-like leaves arranges in whorls around their stems. They grow in northern forests (deciduous conifer forests, boreal forests, and northern alpine forests) in temperate cold zones. (In fact, larches grow farther North than any other tree species!)

There are 3 North American Species and 9(-11) Eurasian species. Of those 12(-14) species, only 1 species, Larix laricina (Tamarack) is native to the Toronto region:

• From Wikipedia:

Larix laricina (Du Roi) K. Koch – Tamarack or American larch. Parts of Alaska and throughout Canada and the northern United States from the eastern Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic shore.

Larix lyallii Parl. – Subalpine larch. Mountains of northwest United States and southwest Canada, at very high altitude.

Larix occidentalis Nutt. – Western larch. Mountains of northwest United States and southwest Canada, at lower altitudes (Pacific Northwest).

^{Range map for Larix laricina. Source: Wikipedia}

BONAP range maps for Larix species confirms Larix laricina as native to Toronoto, but it also suggests evidence of the European species Larix decidua as an exotic.

• We can rule out Larix decidua because the bark is neither smooth nor fissured (see Wisonsin Horticulture), the twigs are not gray or yellow (see the NAS Field Guide to Trees¹), and the needles are neither reaching lengths of 4 cm (see Wikipedia) nor (from my quick count from your image) achieving clusters of 30-60 needles per fascicle (see USFS).

Larix laricina, commonly called Tamarack or American Larch, then, seems like the most likely species.

• Range: Canada (including Toronto ; see above)

• Bark: rough and scaly (USFS)

• Leaves: 2-3 cm needles (wikipedia) bunches into fascicles containing 10-20 needles (USFS).

• Twigs: reddish-brown (NAS Field Guide to Trees¹)

^{L: Larix laricina fascicle with leaves. R: Larix laricina stem Source: UWGB Herbarium}

Your image is just a tad too blurry and my screen a tad too small to see your needle detail. A better image of the needles and an image focused on the bark would only further help to corroborate this guess.

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^{1. Little, E. L. (1980). National audubon society Field Guide to North American Trees: Eastern Region. Alfred A. KNopf, New York.}