Tsuga diversifolia

Northern Japanese Hemlock
Foliage and cones covered in snow
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 2.3)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Pinophyta
Class:	Pinopsida
Order:	Pinales
Family:	Pinaceae
Genus:	Tsuga
Species:	T. diversifolia
Binomial name
Tsuga diversifolia (Maxim.) Mast.

Tsuga diversifolia, commonly known as the Northern Japanese Hemlock, or in Japanese, Kometsuga (米栂), is a species of conifer native to the Japanese islands of Honshū, Kyūshū, and Shikoku. In Europe and North America, the species is sometimes employed as tree for the garden and has been in cultivation since 1861.

Description

T. diversifolia is an evergreen tree that attains heights of 25 m (80 feet). The crown is narrow, dense and conical. Young shoots are short, palely pubescent and bright orange to red-brown in colour. The densely arranged needles are linear-oblong and 5 to 15 mm long and up to 2.4 mm wide. They are a dark green in colour, glossy and furrowed above with two chalk white stomatal bands below.^[2]

The bark is an orange-brown in colour, shallowly fissured and vertically peeling. The buds are a deep purple red. The dull purple, ovoid pistillate flowers are terminal on either long or short shoots. They measure about 5 mm and as they mature become pale green with the centre and margin of each scale being purple. The cones are 1.8 to 2.8 cm long, cylindric-ovoid, and nearly sessile. They are dark brown, pendulous and the scales are slightly convex and ridged. ^[3]

References

1. ^ Conifer Specialist Group 1998 (2006). Tsuga diversifolia. 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. www.iucnredlist.org. Retrieved on 12 May 2007.
2. ^ Breen, Patrick (1999-2007). "Tsuga diversifolia". Landscape Plants: Images, Identification, and Information. Oregon State University. http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ldplants/tsdi.htm. Retrieved 2007-05-12. 
3. ^ Mitchell, Alan (1974). Trees of Britain & Northern Europe. London: Harper Collins Publishers. pp. 146. ISBN 0-00-219213-6.