Larix hybr. - larch hybrids

The history of larch plantings for timber outside their natural range is a long one. This has lead to the realisation that closely related larch species, when planted close together, can hybridise. Hybrids have also been produced and planted deliberately, often being faster-growing than their parent species. This characteristic is known as heterosis, or hybrid-vigour. The best-known hybrid world-wide is that between the Japanese and European larches (Larix x marschlinsii), known as “Henry’s larch” in Finnish, but Dunkeld or simply Hybrid larch in English.

There are two hybrid larch stands at Mustila. Along the edge of the field at the bottom edge of the North Slope there are hybrids of the Japanese larch (L. kaempferi), and at the Lepistö (Alder Wood) bend there are hybrids of the Kurile larch (Larix gmelinii var. japonica). The trees here have all been selected while young for their fast growth. The bluish needles of the Japanese larch have been inherited by their hybrids, while the Kurile hybrids exhibit the wide-spreading branches of the parent species.