Species of the Week - Eastern Hemlock

This week's species is Tsuga canadensis, otherwise known as the Eastern Hemlock. It is in the family Pinaceae (which is the same family as the Eastern White Pine), and can be found pretty much everywhere along the east coast of the United States and Canada. It is a coniferous tree , marked by its flat, single needles, which have white stripes along the underside. As a young tree, the bark will be greyish and smooth, but it will get scalier, more furrowed, and more red-brown in color as the tree ages.

Another identifier of the Eastern Hemlock is its cones, which tend to mature around early fall. They are round, and much smaller than those of the Eastern White Pine. One threat to the Eastern Hemlock is the Hemlock Wooly Adelgid, which is a pest that has decreased hemlock populations significantly. This has caused the Eastern Hemlock to be considered Near Threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.

Posted on February 14, 2019 04:24 AM by lilye828