Essentially a natural tree of the mountains, it requires long, really cold winters for its best development; it is deciduous, and appears to depend upon a long winter rest for the ripening of its wood. In the UK the winters are either short or mild, and neither provide ideal growth conditions. For this reason, English larch is generally inferior to that grown naturally in the mountains.
The heartwood is pale reddish-brown to brick-red in colour, sharply defined from the narrow, lighter-coloured sapwood. It is a very resinous wood, with clearly marked annual rings, a straight grain, and a fine, uniform texture. It is rather heavy, weighing 590 kg/m³ when dried.