Leaf Color Range

Few trees have the unique history of this evergreen. It was probably the first American tree taken back to Europe by French explorers and grown in Paris in 1536. Tea brewed from its foliage and bark saved the crew of the French ship, Jacques Cartier, from scurvy because of its high Vitamin C content. The tree can live to be 400 years old! Indians used the wood for canoe frames. Today it is used for poles, cross ties, posts and lumber.
Height: 40’-70’. A medium-size evergreen with a many branched trunk and conical crown of short spreading branches.
Needles: About 1-1/2” long. Opposite in 4 rows. 16”-1/8” long. Dull yellow-green above, paler blue green beneath. Evergreen.
Habitat: Swamps and neutral or alkaline soils, in limestone uplands, often in pure stands from Manitoba, to Illinois to the Carolinas.