Leaf Color Range

The Canadian hemlock is our state tree. An elegant, graceful evergreen also known as the “eastern hemlock” or “hemlock spruce.” The needles were once used as an ingredient in root beer. It is mostly used as an ornamental or shade tree and it can also be trimmed into hedges. It has a conical crown of long, slender horizontal branches.
Height: 60’-70’
Needles: Almost regularly two ranked. Flat, flexible and relatively long. 1/4”-2/3” long. Shiny dark green above and below with 2 narrow white bands on the lower surface. The lighter colored needles at the tips of the branches in this photo are young needles and will darken with time.
Habitat: In cooler valleys and slopes having moist acid soils; often in pure stands. From Minnesota, south to the mountains of Alabama.