178 Postelsia 
uously grooved on the upper side, pale below, 
rounded at the apex, 5-20 millimeters long, with 
long and short leaves intermingled on the same 
twig; cones oblong-oval, sessile, 2-3 centimeters 
long, their scales thin, flexible, longer than 
broad, often abruptly contracted below the 
middle; seeds about 3 millimeters long, with 
few resin vesicles and long narrow wings. Alaska 
to central California, eastward to the Rocky 
Mountains of British Columbia and Montana. 
Enduring without injury greater extremes of 
both heat and cold than the tideland spruce, 
the western hemlock ranges higher on the moun- 
tains and much farther into the interior than 
the latter tree. It is not, however, so well 
adapted to the short cold summers of the Alaska 
coast, and does not extend as far westward as 
the spruce. It is one of the most abundant trees 
of southern Vancouver Island, forming every- 
where a large, and often the predominant ele- 
ment in the mixed forest of the low country near 
the coast. It is usually a somewhat smaller tree 
than the tideland spruce when the two are grow- 
ing together under similar circumstances. Its 
