Why do Larch trees turn yellow?

#funfactfriday Everyone knows that conifer trees like pine, fir, spruce are evergreens, meaning they keep their needle-like leaves all through the winter. And then there are broad-leaved trees like maple, aspen, willow etc, which are deciduous, meaning their leaves change colour in the fall and drop off for the winter. But did you know that one of our local tree species is actually a deciduous conifer?

The Western Larch (and all of its other cousins in the Larch family) has needles that turn bright yellow in the fall and drop off once winter arrives! This is a very unique characteristic in the tree world – outside of the Larch family, there are only about five other tree species on Earth that do this!