I'm not making any friends.

Tamarack loses it needles every fall
The Latin name for Tamarack is Larix laricina. Other common names are Eastern
Larch, American Larch, Red Larch, Black Larch, takmahak and Hackmatack, ...

Its fun to throw a technical conversation into the fire once in a while...
A guy friend of mine told me he was reading The Voyage of the Beagle when Charles Darwin was putting together his big bombshell of a theory. I said it might be fascinating if it was illustrated in color by Darwin himself, but otherwise that sounds like seriously dry reading.
You have to keep in mind that when these guys were wandering around the continent discovering new plants NA was basically uninhabited. I was reading about one such botanist who disappeared on one of his treks out west never to be seen and was believed to have been scalped by indians.

Jags said:

My definition is easier to remember...
Does it have needles? Or is it a leaf tree?

Click to expand...

DougA said:

... but then I've got trees with needles that are deciduous.
Wiki: Deciduous means "falling off at maturity" or "tending to fall off", and it is typically used in order to refer to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally.

Click to expand...

OK - what about the tamarack aka larch? It has needles but they fall off!!

Edit: johneh - didn't see your post until after ...

Lake Girl said:

OK - what about the tamarack aka larch? It has needles but they fall off!!

Click to expand...

Actually mine is a Redwood. Found it at a local garden center at 50% off, fairly rare and it is growing like crazy. The first fall when all the needles dropped, we thought it was dead but not so. It's a Chinese or Dawn Redwood and is a conifer but deciduous. When it hits 100', I'll post a pic. This tree will not be firewood during my lifetime.
http://www.redwoodworld.co.uk/redwood_types.htm#glyptostroboides

What ya don't learn on this forum, eh.

Yeah larch is a deciduous coniferous! Its my favorite tree and has almost the same btus as birch but without the rot factor. I can drop dead larch trees that have been standing for many years and they will have very little rot if any. I remember helping a family get located here one fall when the mountain sides were lit up with yellow needled larch trees. He said wow you guys are getting hit hard with the pine beetle. Lots of dead trees eh? I educated him on the difference. When we print off our firewood permits it says on it to be aware of the larch tree so that people dont think its a dead pine tree! I remember last winter at christmas some city folk were in town and dropped a live larch tree devoid of needles. I bet they got a surprise when they tried to burn it!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larch

If burning evergreens caused chimney fires, then western states would have chimney fires at rates unheard of on the east coast.

When I took the Travis Industries factory tour, they had about 4 cords of Douglas Fir on hand to feed their stoves.

I had the pine conversation with a neighbor a week ago. I told him that there are some areas of the country where pine is the only thing available and he retorted with "well that pine is a hardwood. You know, like pine hardwood floors."

I have no idea if he is correct but I've never heard of "hardwood pine."

newburner said:

"well that pine is a hardwood.

Click to expand...

I like this quote better -
Every second, a thousand new idiots are born.
DougA

Thanks for the clarification guys. I figured one of us was the idiot but I wasn't sure who.

BTU values if it helps your discussion... https://chimneysweeponline.com/howood.htm

Tamarack/Larch is the best of the conifers, Norway pine & Doug fir are next.