I recently spent the night in a lean-to in the Whites. While cooking dinner near the pond I saw a leafless tree covered in bumps along every twig. For some reason I said “Larch” out loud, even though I was thinking Tamarack (Larix laricina) as I approached the tree. I was puzzled by that initially, and eventually pleased to read that the tamarack is also commonly referred to as the eastern larch and hackmatack. One source says that it is sometimes referred to as Juniper in northern Maine. Scientifically, Tamarack is named Larix laricina and Common Juniper is named Juniperus communis.
I’ve only ever seen one Tamarack before and that was at the Jack Mountain Bushcraft School in Masardis, Maine. I thought the deciduous evergreen was peculiar then and it stuck in my mind. Most likely I read about it in the library and that’s why the larch thing happened. During my camping trip I felt like I stumbled upon a treasure, so I did a bit of research and found out that it lives in swamps and bogs throughout NH and the Grafton County Champion is only one town west from me, in a bog.
I enjoyed digging into the books a bit to learn about this tree and two things stand out. First, there are so many common names for this species, it is a good example of the importance of learning the scientific names of the things we share our local ecological space with. Maybe less so with Juniper, unless you want to make bad gin, but especially when you’re dealing with high consequence species such as those that share the name Hemlock. Second, despite my new fondness for this tree, knowing that it prefers wet environments, I will likely avoid setting up shelter nearby.
