earticle

영어

Dahurian larch (Larix gmelini (Rupr.) Kuzen.) is an indigenous species in Korea. Most of Dahurian larch is growing in the alpine area of mid and northern lands in Korean peninsula. In addition, Japanese larch (Larix kaempferi (Lamb.) Carrière), which is similar to Dahurian larch in shape, was widely planted throughout the Korea in the 1970s as part of the forestation project and is now facing the age for harvesting. So it needs to be evaluated the wood qualities for effective utilization of both species as a timber resource. Until now, there is still lack information on the wood quality of Dahurian larch. Therefore, in this study, the anatomical, physical, and mechanical characteristics of Dahurian larch and Japanese larch were investigated for giving effective utilization indicators of both species. As a result of visual observation, both species show similar properties such as distinction between heartwood and sapwood and abrupt transition from earlywood to latewood. Vice versa, few differences were found on anatomical aspect between Dahurian larch and Japanese larch. At first, tracheid length of Japanese larch was longer than that of Dahurian larch. And second one is arrangement of bordered pit frequently showed 2 low in Dahurian larch and 1 low in Japanese larch. Regarding to density of heartwood and sapwood, Dahurian larch was higher than that of Japanese larch. In case of mechanical investigation, Dahurian larch showed higher axial compressive strength and shear strength than Japanese larch. Lastly, the extractive content of Dahurian larch was about 2.5 times higher than that of Japanese larch. Therefore, the results of this study could be used for efficient utilization indicators of Dahurian larch and Japanese larch.