Puget Sound Native Tree
Botanical Garden
Tsuga mertensiana
Tsuga mertensiana
Introduced CONIFERS
National Champions
Mountain Hemlock
Champion Tree Statistics
HEIGHT
DIAMETER
AGE
200'
7'
400
Typical Large Mature Tree Dimensions
Height
Diameter
100 FEET
2-3 FEET
200-300 YEARS
AGE
The Introduced CONIFERS
of the
Puget Sound Native Tree
Botanical Garden
Mountain Hemlock
Tsuga mertensiana
Introduced to the property in 2018. Slow growing.
Tsuga mertensiana
Introduced CONIFERS
DOLPHIN PLACE Specimens
Mountain Hemlock
5 feet
2"
2018
HIEGHT
DIAMETER
YEAR AQUIRED
within 70 miles, Olympics
Provenance
Needles
Mountain hemlock needles are short, blue-green, and arranged spirally all around the twig, giving a "bottle-brush" look, unlike other hemlocks where needles lie flat; they have white stomatal lines on both sides, making them appear silvery-blue from all directions, with blunt tips and tiny stems, rather than flat and two-toned.
Cones
Mountain hemlock cones are small, pendulous (hanging), cylindrical, and often purplish-blue when young, maturing to reddish-brown, and are noticeably longer (1-3 inches) and more robust than Western hemlock cones, with flexible scales and often numerous enough to cover the ground below the tree.
Bark
Mountain hemlock bark starts thin and scaly but matures into a rough, dark gray to reddish-brown, deeply furrowed texture with narrow, rounded ridges, often appearing square-cracked on older trees, and reveals a characteristic maroon-red inner bark, differentiating it from other hemlocks.
Tsuga mertensiana
Tsuga mertensiana