Eastern hemlock

Leaves

Form

• Slightly tapered, flat
• Finely toothed
• Upper surface grooved
• Tip blunt, rounded or notched
• Needles arranged in 2 ranks, with a few shorter ones on the upper side

Length

• 10–20 mm

Colour

• Upper surface shiny green
• Whitened on lower surface with well-defined lines of white dots on either side of midvein with a clear green margin
  

Buds

Form

• Ovoid, hairy

Length

• About 2 mm

Colour

• Brownish

Twigs

Form

• Slender, hairy
• Arranged in flat sprays

Colour

• Yellowish-brown

Seed cones (mature)

Form

• Ovoid
• Pointed

Length

• 12–20 mm

Colour

• Purplish-brown

Structure

• Stalks 2–3 mm long, slender, hairy
• Scales few, thin, roundish
• Margins smooth or faintly toothed

Timing

• Cones open in autumn
• Seeds shed in late autumn and winter
• Cones stay on tree into the following season

Bark

Form

• Scaly when young
• Becoming deeply furrowed with broad, flat-topped ridges

Colour

• Outer bark with dull reddish-purple layers
• Inner bark bright reddish-purple
• Mature bark dark brown

Wood

Texture

• Weak

Colour

• Heartwood light orange-yellow

Morphology

• Separation between the annual rings and along radial lines often occurs in living trees

Uses

• Coarse lumber

Size

Height

• To 30 m

Diameter

• To 100 cm

Maximum age

• 600 years

Tree form

Forest-grown

Trunk

• Strongly tapered
• Leading shoot oblique

Crown

• Dense, conical, becoming ragged and irregular with age
• Branches slender and flexible, spreading horizontally from the trunk, drooping at the end
• Dead branches persist

Root system

• Shallow, wide-spreading

Habitat

Site

• Various soil types
• Requires a cool moist site
• Small trees persist in closed stands for many decades

Light tolerance

• Very shade-tolerant

Associated species

• Found in pure stands or mixed with yellow birch, eastern white pine, red spruce, white spruce, sugar maple, and American beech

Range

Eastern Canada, mainly in the Maritime provinces