Mountain Hemlock

(Tsuga mertensiana)

Color Photographs: © by and courtesy of Charles Webber, California Academy of Sciences

Mountain Hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana)

Identifying Characters: Mountain Hemlock has cylindrical, purple-brown cones hanging from the ends of the small branches. The cones are longer (1 to 3 inches) than those of Western Hemlock (0.75 to 1 inch) and are much more cylindrical. The needles are stout, sometimes fat, appearing in contrast to the flat, shiny appearance of Western Hemlock needles.

Similar Species: See above.

Measurements: The trunk of the tree is tapered and conical in appearance. The tree ranges in height from 30 to 100 feet and is 1 to 3 feet in diameter at breast height.

Cones: Cones 1 to 3 inches in length, cylindrical, handing from the tips of small branches; cones without a stalk, turning purple-brown.

Needles: Needles 0.25 to 1 inch in length, crowded on small side branches and not clearly arranged in two rows; needles borne on a short stalk, flat above, but rounded below giving the needles and fat, stout appearance; color blue-green with white lines both above and below.

Bark: Bark gray or dark brown, thick, and deeply broken into scaly ridges.

Native Range: Mountain Hemlock grows from Sequoia National Park in California (lat. 36° 38' N.) to Cook Inlet in Alaska (lat. 61° 25' N.) (83). It grows along the crest of the Sierra Nevada in California; the Cascade Range in Oregon; the Cascade Range and Olympic Mountains in Washington; the northern Rocky Mountains in Idaho and western Montana; the Insular, Coast, and Columbia Mountains in British Columbia; and in southeast and south-central Alaska. (Silvics of North America. 1990. Agriculture Handbook 654.)

Habitat: Mountain Hemlock occurs in the mountains on a variety of soil types ranging from moist to coarse, rocky areas. Usually found in mixed coniferous forests or with firs.