Tsuga canadensis, (L.) Carr.

Form.—Height 60-100 feet, diameter 2-4 feet; trunk with limbs nearly to the ground when in the open but free from them to a considerable height when in dense stands; slender horizontal branches form a pyramidal crown which is often irregular.

Leaves.—Arranged on all sides of the branch, but appearing as if in two ranks, flat, thin, rounded or slightly notched at the tip, about ½ inch long, dark green above, pale beneath.

Flowers.—April-May; monoecious; staminate in the axils, globose, yellow; pistillate terminal, pale green, oblong, with broad bracts and short pinkish scales.

Fruit.—Cones mature each autumn; borne on slender stalks; ovate, about ¾ of an inch long; scales rounded, about as broad as long; seeds about ? inch long, half as long as their wings.

Bark.—With deep fissures on old trunks and prominent rounded ridges; inner bark cinnamon-red.

Wood.—Light, medium hard, brittle, coarse-grained, not easily worked, not durable when exposed to the weather; red-brown with lighter sapwood.

Range.—Nova Scotia, south to Alabama and west to Minnesota.

Distribution in West Virginia.—Common in nearly all parts of the State, reaching high elevations in the mountain counties, and confined to ravines and rough stony ground in most of the hilly sections.

Habitat.—Prefers damp stony northern exposures, deep stream gorges, river banks, and swamp borders.

Notes.—The hemlock ranks as one of the most useful trees. The wood is used for construction, paper pulp, and lath; the bark is used in tanning; and the trees are often planted on lawns and in hedges.