larch

A deciduous conifer — one of the few needle-bearing trees that drops its needles every autumn, turning gold before it goes bare. Larches occupy high elevations and northern latitudes, forming the treeline in many mountain ranges. A larch forest in October is one of the great spectacles of the alpine world: slopes of pure gold against granite and early snow. The wood is dense, rot-resistant, and was prized for shipbuilding and fence posts.