OF THE CAROLINAS & GEORGIA

Spermatophytes (seed plants): Gymnosperms (non-flowering plants): Conifers: Pinales

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Tsuga canadensis   FAMILY Pinaceae   Go to FSUS key



SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Tsuga canadensis   FAMILY Pinaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)

Tsuga canadensis

SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)

Tsuga canadensis

SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 2 (1993)

Tsuga canadensis

SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 016-03-001:

Tsuga canadensis   FAMILY Pinaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)

Tsuga canadensis

 

COMMON NAME:
Eastern Hemlock, Canada Hemlock, Spruce Pine, Hemlock Spruce


         To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.

image of Tsuga canadensis, Eastern Hemlock, Canada Hemlock, Spruce Pine, Hemlock Spruce

Trees You Want to Know (Peattie, 1934); illustration by F.A. Michaux    dcp34_p12a

        

image of Tsuga canadensis, Eastern Hemlock, Canada Hemlock, Spruce Pine, Hemlock Spruce

USDA Forest Service / A Guide to Medicinal Plants of Appalachia. 1969    mpa_page_259

        

image of Tsuga canadensis, Eastern Hemlock, Canada Hemlock, Spruce Pine, Hemlock Spruce

Manual of the Trees of North America (Exclusive of Mexico) (Sargent, 1905)    mtna_i_075

        

image of Tsuga canadensis, Eastern Hemlock, Canada Hemlock, Spruce Pine, Hemlock Spruce

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913    pnd_tsca_001_lvd

        

image of Tsuga canadensis, Eastern Hemlock, Canada Hemlock, Spruce Pine, Hemlock Spruce

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / US Forest Service    pnd_tsca_005_lhp

        

image of Tsuga canadensis, Eastern Hemlock, Canada Hemlock, Spruce Pine, Hemlock Spruce

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / US Forest Service    pnd_tsca_006_lvd

        

image of Tsuga canadensis, Eastern Hemlock, Canada Hemlock, Spruce Pine, Hemlock Spruce

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / US Forest Service    pnd_tsca_007_lhp

        

image of Tsuga canadensis, Eastern Hemlock, Canada Hemlock, Spruce Pine, Hemlock Spruce

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / USDA Wetland flora: Field office illustrated guide    pnd_tsca_008_lvd

        

image of Tsuga canadensis, Eastern Hemlock, Canada Hemlock, Spruce Pine, Hemlock Spruce

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / US Forest Service    pnd_tsca_009_lvp

        

image of Tsuga canadensis, Eastern Hemlock, Canada Hemlock, Spruce Pine, Hemlock Spruce

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / US Forest Service    pnd_tsca_010_lvp

        

image of Tsuga canadensis, Eastern Hemlock, Canada Hemlock, Spruce Pine, Hemlock Spruce

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / US Forest Service    pnd_tsca_011_lvp

        

image of Tsuga canadensis, Eastern Hemlock, Canada Hemlock, Spruce Pine, Hemlock Spruce

Stephanie C. Brundage    scb_042521atlanta12

April    Fulton County    GA

Atlanta History Center

image of Tsuga canadensis, Eastern Hemlock, Canada Hemlock, Spruce Pine, Hemlock Spruce

Stephanie C. Brundage    scb_042521atlanta14

April    Fulton County    GA

Atlanta History Center

image of Tsuga canadensis, Eastern Hemlock, Canada Hemlock, Spruce Pine, Hemlock Spruce

JK Marlow    jkm0305zc_01

May    Buncombe County    NC

Botanical Gardens at Asheville

image of Tsuga canadensis, Eastern Hemlock, Canada Hemlock, Spruce Pine, Hemlock Spruce

JK Marlow    jkm0305zc_02

May    Buncombe County    NC

Botanical Gardens at Asheville

image of Tsuga canadensis, Eastern Hemlock, Canada Hemlock, Spruce Pine, Hemlock Spruce

JK Marlow    jkm060521_155

May    Macon County    NC

Highlands Biological Station

Bark brown to red-brown, scaly, becoming thick and forming plates or ridges, per Woody Plants of the Southeastern US: A Winter Guide (Lance, 2004).

image of Tsuga canadensis, Eastern Hemlock, Canada Hemlock, Spruce Pine, Hemlock Spruce

Richard and Teresa Ware    rtw_tsuga_canadensis_3

May        

image of Tsuga canadensis, Eastern Hemlock, Canada Hemlock, Spruce Pine, Hemlock Spruce

JK Marlow    jkm080802_152

August    Transylvania County    NC

Blue Ridge Parkway

The tiny hemlock woolly adelgid has left a trail of dead hemlocks, per Wildflowers & Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont (Spira, 2011).

image of Tsuga canadensis, Eastern Hemlock, Canada Hemlock, Spruce Pine, Hemlock Spruce

JK Marlow    jkm140816_698

August    Jackson County    NC

High Hampton Inn

Seed cone of T. canadensis on left, that of T. caroliniana on right.


click here to see other plants that look similar to this COMPARE conifers (not including Pines)

image of Tsuga canadensis, Eastern Hemlock, Canada Hemlock, Spruce Pine, Hemlock Spruce

Richard and Teresa Ware    rtw_t_canadensis_leaves_1

September    Walker County    GA

Needles 3/8" to 3/4" long, flexible, per Native Trees of the Southeast, An Identification Guide (Kirkman, Brown, & Leopold, 2007).

image of Tsuga canadensis, Eastern Hemlock, Canada Hemlock, Spruce Pine, Hemlock Spruce

Richard and Teresa Ware    rtw_tsuga_canadensis_s

September        

Cones pendant, small, with thin scales, per Woody Plants of the Blue Ridge (Lance).


click here to see other plants that look similar to this COMPARE cones of Fir, Hemlock and Spruce

image of Tsuga canadensis, Eastern Hemlock, Canada Hemlock, Spruce Pine, Hemlock Spruce

Paul Thompson    psttsuga_canadensis

September?        

Leaves are primarily 2-ranked. — Clemson Extension

image of Tsuga canadensis, Eastern Hemlock, Canada Hemlock, Spruce Pine, Hemlock Spruce

JK Marlow    s041226_b

December    Greenville County    SC

Caesars Head State Park

Needles 2-ranked, flattened, with 2 narrow whitish bands of stomata beneath, per Native Trees of the Southeast, An Identification Guide (Kirkman, Brown, & Leopold, 2007).


click here to see other plants that look similar to this COMPARE needles of Fir, Hemlock and Spruce

image of Tsuga canadensis, Eastern Hemlock, Canada Hemlock, Spruce Pine, Hemlock Spruce

L.L. (Chick) Gaddy    llg_deadhemlocks

Month Unknown    Haywood County    NC

Dead Canada hemlock in high elevation cove forest in Pigeon River headwaters, per Alpine South: Plants and Plant Communities of the High Elevations of the Southern Appalachians (Gaddy, 2014).

image of Tsuga canadensis, Eastern Hemlock, Canada Hemlock, Spruce Pine, Hemlock Spruce

L.L. (Chick) Gaddy    llg_hemlocks

Month Unknown        

Left: leaves (needles) of Carolina hemlock. Right: Canada or eastern hemlock, per Alpine South: Plants and Plant Communities of the High Elevations of the Southern Appalachians (Gaddy, 2014).

 

 

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Tsuga canadensis   FAMILY Pinaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Tsuga canadensis   FAMILY Pinaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Tsuga canadensis

SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Tsuga canadensis

SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 2
Tsuga canadensis

SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 016-03-001:
Tsuga canadensis   FAMILY Pinaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Tsuga canadensis

 

Find by SCIENTIFIC NAME:

1561

Tree
Perennial
Monoecious

Habitat: In a wide variety of habitats in the mountains, most typically and abundantly in moist sites in ravines or coves along streams, but likely to be found in all but the driest habitats between 300 and 1500 m (even occurring in peaty bogs, where it has a sickly yellow color and short life expectancy); in the western Piedmont of NC limited to progressively rarer microhabitats (primarily north-facing river bluffs), reaching its eastward limit in NC at a disjunct stand at Hemlock Bluff State Natural Area, Wake County (but uncommon in the Piedmont of VA and even present, though rare, in the Coastal Plain of VA), per Weakley's Flora

Native to the Carolinas & Georgia

Common in Mountains, rare in Piedmont

map
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.

Click here to see a map showing all occurrences known to SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria. (Zoom in to see more detail.)

LEAVES:
Evergreen
Needles flattened, flexible, to 3/4" long
Needles not in bundles, 2-ranked

"FLOWER":
Spring
Unisexual

FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Cone

 

TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!



 


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