The Hemlocks 



of its own Sturdy roots, as confident and thrifty as any of its neigh- 

 bours. 



The little cones of the Western hemlock have scales like 

 scallop shells, marked with radiating lines. This is before they 

 loosen. Afterward each scale shows a narrow neck behind this 

 "shell," and a long blade extending backward. 



This tree has the strongest and most durable wood of all the 

 hemlocks. It is a staple commercial lumber on the coast, lum- 

 ber authorities claiming that it is harder, heavier and otherwise 

 superior to the Eastern hemlock. 



Mountain Hemlock (Tsuga Mertensiana, Sarg.) — A broad, 

 open pyramidal tree, 75 to 100 feet high, with much-branched, 

 often prostrate limbs. Bark cinnamon red, furrowed, scaly. 

 Wood light, soft, brownish red, close grained, weak. Buds brown, 

 small, pointed. Leaves not 2-ranked, rounded below, flat, often 

 grooved above, petioles set on prominent bases, colour, blue-green. 

 Flowers : staminate blue, pendant on stalk; pistillate erect, with 

 purplish or yellow bracts. Fruit oblong cones i to 3 inches long, 

 borne on upper branches; scales broad, entire, striate, yellow or 

 purple, turning out and back at maturity. Preferred habitat, 

 high, rocky ridges in exposed situations. Distribution, south- 

 eastern Alaska to British Columbia; south to central California, 

 Montana and Idaho. Uses: Wood occasionally used in building 

 and bark in tanning. 



This hemlock, which has been variously called a spruce, a fir 

 and a pine by botanical explorers, is not likely to be exterminated 

 by lumber companies, for it grows in inaccessible mountain fast- 

 nesses, and battles with storms to the very timber line. " Between 

 5,000 and 7,000 feet above the sea on ridges and along the 

 margins of alpine meadows in groves of exquisite beauty, 

 and pushing the advance guard of the forest to the edge 

 of living glaciers" — thus Sargent describes the habitat of the 

 tree which he considers " the loveliest cone-bearing tree of the 

 American forest." 



During the larger half of each year the mountain hemlocks 

 are buried in snow, their tough limbs cramped beneath their 

 burden; but with summer comes freedom, and these limbs are 

 flung out again with singular grace to brave the lashing of the 

 winds. A tall tree in the humid lowlands, the trunk diminishes 

 with the ascent of the mountains. At an altitude of almost 



77 



