Index / Search / Tsuga heterophylla
§1 Plant
Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg.
vernacular western hemlock — species · Pinaceae
§2Habit & range
Habit and range
- Growth habit
- Tree
- Duration
- Perennial
- Group
- Gymnosperm
- Family
- Pinaceae Spreng. ex Rudolphi
- Genus
- Tsuga
§2a
Native status, by region
- AK Alaska Native
- CAN Canada Native
- L48 Lower 48 States Native
§2b
County-level range
· 2 counties across 1 state§3Cultivation specs · USDA
Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.
§3a
Tolerances
- Drought
- Low
- Shade
- Low
- Moisture use
- Medium
- Fire
- Low
- Salinity
- None
- Anaerobic
- None
- CaCO₃
- None
- Hedging
- Low
§3b
Climate & soil
- Cold tolerance
- -23 °F minimum
- Frost-free days
- 150 min.
- Precipitation
- 38–150 in/yr
- pH range
- 4.5–6
- Root depth
- 36 in min.
- Fertility need
- Medium
- Soil texture
- medium
§3c
Form & growth
- Growth form
- Single Stem
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Lifespan
- Long
- Mature height
- 170 ft
- Height @ 20 y
- 40 ft
- Foliage texture
- Fine
- Foliage colour
- Green
- Porosity (summer)
- Dense
- Porosity (winter)
- Dense
- Fruit colour
- Brown
- Fire resistant
- No
- N fixation
- None
- Toxicity
- None
§3d
Reproduction
- Bloom period
- Mid Spring
- Seed abundance
- Medium
- Seed begins
- Summer
- Seed ends
- Fall
- Spread rate
- Moderate
- Stratify
- Yes
- Seeds / lb
- 297,600
- Propagation
- seed, cuttings, bare root, container
§3e
Use & availability
- Commercial availability
- Routinely Available
- Nursery stock
- Yes
- Browse palatability
- Low
- Graze palatability
- Low
- Palatable, human
- No
- Protein potential
- Low
- Lumber
- Yes
- Fuelwood
- Medium
- Christmas tree
- No
§4Counties, by state
Recorded in 2 counties across 1 state.
Montana view state ↗ 2 N ▾
§5Sources & provenance
USDA PLANTS
Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.
plants.usda.gov/TSHE ↗GBIF Backbone
Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.
gbif.org/species/2687210 ↗Record version
Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:
usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25
fetched 2026-05-25T18:27:19Z