Online Virtual Flora of Wisconsin

Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carrière

Family: Pinaceae

eastern hemlock, hemlock, northern hemlock

Christopher Noll

Kitty Kohout

University of Wisconsin - Madison (WIS-VP)

Open Interactive Map

Etymology: Tsuga: Japanese name of one of the species
Plants: rounded top perennial, 60'-70' tall, evergreen tree; stems flexible, rough when leafless
Leaves: needles with 2 white bands beneath, flat single 5/16" - 9/16" long
Fruits: 5/8"-1" cones
Conservation Status: Native
A large, stately tree of northern forests where it grows with sugar maple-basswood, sugar maple-red oak, sugar maple-beech, mixed conifers, sugar maple-yellow birch, white pine-red maple, and rarely oak-pine. It is also found on forested lakeshores, steep riverbanks, wooded Lake Michigan dunes and wet woods with black ash-yellow birch-silver maple, black ash-white cedar-balsam fir; rarely in bogs. Hemlock grows in a number of relict sites in the Driftless Area on steep north- or east-facing river banks and moist sandstone cliffs and bluffs; these areas are generally moister and cooler than Driftless Area pine relicts. Records from Kenosha Co. are from cultivated trees.
Hemlock’s range in the state abruptly stops in the northwest, just barely ranging past an area around the border of Bayfield and Douglas Cos. (Davidson et. al, 1973).

A large, stately tree of northern forests where it grows with sugar maple-basswood, sugar maple-red oak, sugar maple-beech, mixed conifers, sugar maple-yellow birch, white pine-red maple, and rarely oak-pine. It is also found on forested lakeshores, steep riverbanks, wooded Lake Michigan dunes and wet woods with black ash-yellow birch-silver maple, black ash-white cedar-balsam fir; rarely in bogs. Hemlock grows in a number of relict sites in the Driftless Area on steep north- or east-facing river banks and moist sandstone cliffs and bluffs; these areas are generally moister and cooler than Driftless Area pine relicts. Records from Kenosha Co. are from cultivated trees.

Hemlock’s range in the state abruptly stops in the northwest, just barely ranging past an area around the border of Bayfield and Douglas Cos. (Davidson et. al, 1973).