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Prairie Folklore
by Wayne Pauly from Dane County Parks ACTION Adult Conservation Team Newsletter (All folklore stories)
Larch, or Tamarack
Larix laricina
A tamarack has the softest needles of any “evergreen”, and although most folks
associate it with northern bogs, a few grew in Dane County at the time of
settlement. I enjoy the story told by a Chicago man whose parents had a “cabin”
in northern Wisconsin. One spring, 70 years ago, they returned with a beautiful,
soft needled pine, which they planted in front of their home. He said his
parents received lots of compliments on the gentle pine and condolences that
fall when the needles turned a golden tan, as if blighted, and all fell off. All
winter the pine looked dead, but in spring a miracle happened—it leafed out. For
many years his family enjoyed their little joke, until their friends finally
caught on that this evergreen was deciduous
Each Christmas we gather with my wife’s large family in St. Paul and the
brother-in-law from Duluth provides the family tree. Some years ago I commented
on the attractive homemade tree ornaments, and with tongue in cheek, suggested
he should grow tamaracks for Christmas-- no needles would hide the ornaments, no
needles in the carpet, and no fire hazard. The idea caught his imagination,
because he grew and sheared a couple of dozen with the rest of his trees, but it
was a hard sell—everyone wanted a green tree—BIG SURPRISE. His oldest daughter
took one, though, and after a few days in a tree stand with water, it leafed out
with beautiful, soft, light green needles---Wow! Still can’t convince grandma to
try it though, she prefers tradition