Japanese larchSimon Colenutt, CC BY 4.0
Introduced · Up to 40 m

Japanese larch

Larix kaempferi · Pinaceae

Japanese larch is a conifer planted in forests across Britain. Its dark greyish green needles all fall in autumn. Its round cones have thin scales whose tips curl out and back.

Often mistaken for Norway spruce. How to tell them apart →
Know it byConesNearly round, about 30 mm, standing upright on the twigs.Needle tuftsSoft, dark greyish green, 2 to 5 cm, on short spurs.TwigsDark orange, brown or purplish grey, with small rounded buds and short spurs.

Then check · ShapeBroadly cone-shaped and densely twiggy on level branches, and the bare winter crown looks smoky red from far off.

How to identify a Japanese larch

Japanese larch: cones
Cones

Nearly round and about 30 mm, standing upright on the twigs, with thin scales whose tips turn out and back.

Japanese larch: needle tuftsSimon Colenutt, CC BY 4.0
Needle tufts

Soft, dark greyish green, 2 to 5 cm long, crowded in tufts on short spurs, with two broad grey bands underneath.

Twigs

Dark orange, brown or purplish grey shoots under a waxy white bloom, with small, rounded buds, slightly sticky with resin, and short woody spurs.

Learn the Japanese larch in TreelyEvery part through the year, and a short round each day until you know it.Get Treely

Every part, in photographs

Japanese larch needle tufts: dark greyish green needles in tufts, shed in autumnSimon Colenutt, CC BY 4.0
Needle tuftsDark greyish green needles in tufts, shed in autumn
Japanese larch cones: small round cones, scale tips bent back
ConesSmall round cones, scale tips bent back
Japanese larch bark: reddish brown, scaling into shaggy ridgesMarco Mussita, CC BY 4.0
BarkReddish brown, scaling into shaggy ridges

When to look

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In leaf
Flowers
Cones

In leaf: March to November · Flowers: March to May · Cones: all year

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Where you’ll find it

Forestry plantations across Britain, on the richer soils. It is rare in gardens. It usually needs more than 1000 mm of rain a year. Wild ones grow only in the mountains of central Japan.

What it’s mistaken for

Japanese larch: where the needles join the shootNorway spruce: where the needles join the shootJapanese larch or Norway spruce?Both are plantation conifers on the same hillsides.Where the needles join the shoot
  • European larchBoth are conifers that drop their needles in winter, planted through the same uplands. Fruit. Japanese larch: nearly round, scale tips curled back. European larch: oval, the scales held straight.

More pines, firs, spruces, larches and cedars

Atlas cedarCedrus atlanticaCedar of LebanonCedrus libaniCorsican pinePinus nigra subsp. laricioDouglas firPseudotsuga menziesiiEuropean larchLarix deciduaGrand firAbies grandisNoble firAbies proceraNorway sprucePicea abies
In the app

There’s more of the Japanese larch in Treely

  • Every part, through the yearLeaves, bark, buds, flowers and fruit, photographed in every season
  • Its lookalikes, side by sideThe checks that settle it, part by part
  • A short round each dayUntil you know the Japanese larch on sight, from any side
  • Name it from a photoA leaf, the bark or a flower, and Treely tells you which tree
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Every fact on this page is checked against the Collins Tree Guide, last in November 2026. Spotted something that looks wrong in front of a real tree? Tell us. How we check.

Photographs: Simon Colenutt (CC BY 4.0), pilmar (CC0), Marco Mussita (CC BY 4.0), megachile (CC0). With thanks to everyone who shares their photographs on iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons.