The Tamarack or Black Larch is a coniferous tree that loses all of its foliage in the fall. Most conifers are evergreen, dropping foliage throughout the year, but never all at once. The Tamarack makes smallish, handsome cones with rounded scales. In fall the tree's foliage turns yellow before falling off.

The tree's preferred climate is cool moist mountain slopes, bogs and swamps.

The roots of the Tamarack were used by Native Americans to sew together birch-bark canoes and its Algonquin name "Akemantak" means "wood used to make snowshoes." The tree had many uses for Native Americans; boat ribs, arrows, medicine and many other things could be made from this tall tree.