Larch on Elagin Island (S.M. Kirov Central Park of Culture and Leisure, St. Petersburg)

The article is devoted to the inventory of larches (Larix Mill.), which was made by the authors in 2019–2020 on Elagin Island (S.M. Kirov Central Park of Culture and Leisure) to clarify the taxonomical composition of the collection, and was a continuation of a previously conducted comprehensive study of the park’s flora. The total number of larches is 974 specimens. These are mainly old-growth larches. L. sibirica (465 specimens) and L. decidua (384 specimens) prevail. L. archangelica (50 specimens) and L. czekanowskii (48 specimens) have the second place. These species have proven themselves well and successfully grow on the territory of park “Elagin Island”. In addition, in the park, there are some individual trees of the Czekanowskii larch, a natural hybrid between the Dahurian larch, or Gmelin's larch, and the Siberian larch (L. czekanowskii (L. dahurica × L. sibirica)) with horizontal, widely spreading branches; the bark of old trees has large adjacent oblong plates. The cones usually differ in size, even within the same shoot; there are forms with predominantly large cones and rounded, but naked scales (a form close to L. sibirica) or with small cones and truncated scales (a form close to L. dahurica). There are also cultivated hybrids of Sukachev, or Arkhangelsk larch, and European larch (L. archangelica × L. decidua) and European larch and Siberian larch (L. decidua × L. sibirica) with intermediate characteristics between the parental species.

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