FOREST TREES OF THE PACIFIC SLOPE. 93 



thread-like stem, and are about one-fourth to seven-eighths of an inch long. 

 The leaf-bearing branchlets, especially those of the season's growth, are more 

 or less minutely hairy. The small, few-scaled cones nod from the tips of 

 branchlets, maturing from the middle to the end of August. They open rap- 

 idly afterwards and usually shed their small, winged seeds dining September. 

 By spring most of the cones have fallen from the trees. The cones are from 

 about three-fourths inch to sometimes nearly 1| inches long, and when open are 

 reddish clay-brown (fig. 34). Cone-scales, peculiar in being sharply narrowed 

 from about their middle, are faintly downy on their outer surfaces. The seeds 

 (fig. 34, a) are light brown. Their comparatively large wings enable the wind to 

 carry them to a considerable distance from the parent tree. Seed-leaves 5, 

 pointed, and about one-fourth inch long. By the third year seedlings produce 

 foliage like that of the adult tree. In the dense, moist forests in which this 

 tree grows best its numerous seedlings grown on moss-covered stumps and 

 logs — often high in the air, and even in the moss on living trunks — are a 

 familiar sight. Not infrequently seedlings extend their roots through or over 

 their host stumps and decaying logs into the soil and become (irmly rooted; 

 many others, unable to do this, die. The ability of this tree to grow throughout 

 its life in the densest shade explains the often almost pure stands which have 

 followed removal of the older forest in which hemlock was widely but only 

 sparingly represented. The hemlocks had covered the shaded ground with 

 seedlings which later excluded other species trying to come in after the old trees 

 were removed. 



Wood, fine-grained, pale yellowish brown, with the slightest tinge of red. It 

 is rather light, soft (works like soft pine), and very unlike the slivery wood of 

 its eastern relative, which it otherwise resembles. The unfounded prejudice 

 against western hemlock wood is exceedingly unfortunate, for in its best grades 

 it is useful for many of the better commercial purposes, while its bark yields 

 a much higher percentage of tannin than does that of the eastern hemlock 

 [Tsuga canadensis), so extensively used for tanning. 



Longevity. — Very long-lived, growing slowly in height and diameter. Trees 

 16 or 17 inches in diameter are 195 or 200 years old. Large trees are from 30(1 

 to 500 years old, and it is believed that very much older trees will be noted. 



RANGE. 



Pacific coast region from Alaska southward to northern California ; inland to southern 

 British Columbia, northern Idaho, and Montana, and into the Cascades in Oregon and 

 Washington. 



Alaska. — Islands and seaward slope of coast ranges westward to Cape Puget on west 

 side of Prince William Sound ; generally from sea level to timber line (3,000 feet on 

 southeastern coast to 1.000 feet on Prince William Sound). Lynn Canal region, from 

 elevations of 130 to 2,600 feet. South slope of St. Elias Range to 1,625 and 2,700 feet ; 

 Yakutat Bay, up to 2,200 feet on Mount Tebenkof (east end of bay), gradually dropping 

 to sea level at Disenchantment Bay (head of Yakutat Bay). Coast from Dry Bay 

 to Prince William Sound, up to 400 feet, and to 1,600 feet; on coastal- plain, hillsides 

 facing open water and valleys of streams, sometimes extending inland 3 to 5 miles, 

 as at head of Cordova, Gravina, and Fidalgo bays. 



British Colombia. — Islands, Coast Range, and inland up river valleys to limit of 

 abundant rainfall, from sea level to 2,000 or 3,000 feet elevation. Reappears eastward 

 in Gold and Selkirk mountains, reaching 3,500 to 5,000 feet. Up Dean Inlet and Salmon 

 River to point 18 miles from sea and to elevation of 600 feet; appears si ill farther in- 

 land, in Coast Range, sparingly on lower part of Iltasyouco River (tributary Salmon 

 River). Inland 53 miles on Homathco River (flows into Bute Inlet) to an elevation of 

 2,320 feet. In lower Fraser River Valley eastern limits are Uztllhoos River (north- 

 eastern brauch of Anderson River), at point to 10 miles east of Fraser River, and sum- 

 mit between Coquihalla River (eastern tributary Fraser River) and Coldwater River. 

 Abundant on southwest coast of Vancouver Island, reaching elevation of 075 feet about 

 I'ort Renfrew. Extends into Gold Range (from eastern Washington) and into Selkirk 



151 88—08 7 



