General: Tree, seldom to 40 m tall, much shorter near tree-line; narrow crown, with slightly drooping leader (growing tip), less evident with age; twigs strongly hairy with mix of short and long hairs; bark thick, strongly furrowed and ridged, dark purplish- to reddish-brown.
Leaves: Needles thickened in centre and somewhat 4-sided, round to blunt at tip, (10) 12-20 mm long, spread around branches to somewhat upturned, not forming flat sprays; yellow-green to deep blue-green, stomata on both surfaces, rarely whitish.
Cones: Seed cones maturing from green or purple to dark brown, (2.5) 3-6 (7) cm long, cylindric with narrowed ends; pollen cones bluish, 3-4 mm long.
Notes: See above for hybridization with T. heterophylla.
1. Needles flattened in cross section, grooved and greenish on upper surface, with two white (stomatiferous) bands below, tending to form flat spray-like branches; cones egg-shaped, 1.5-2.5 cm long......................Tsuga heterophylla
1. Needles nearly semi-circular in cross section (flat on top), bluish-green on both surfaces, not forming flat spray-like branches, but spreading in all directions; cones cylindric, narrowed at each end, 3.7 cm long........................Tsuga mertensiana
Source: the Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
Habitat / Range
Wet to dry slopes in the lowland to subalpine zones; common at high elevations along W BC and infrequent in SE BC and lower elevations of NW BC coast; N to SE AK and S to C CA, N ID and W MT.
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
A shade-tolerant/intolerant, montane to alpine, Western North American evergreen conifer distributed more in the Pacific than the Cordilleran region. Occurs in hypermaritime to submaritime subalpine boreal climates; its occurrence decreases with increasing precipitation and continentality. Most productive on fresh and nutrient-medium soils within maritime subalpine boreal climates. Characteristic of maritime subalpine forests.
