Western hemlock

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Western hemlock
Western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla)

Western hemlock ( Tsuga heterophylla )

Systematics
Class : Coniferopsida
Order : Conifers (Coniferales)
Family : Pine family (Pinaceae)
Subfamily : Abietoideae
Genre : Hemlocks ( Tsuga )
Type : Western hemlock
Scientific name
Tsuga heterophylla
( Raf. ) Coffin.
Tsuga heterophylla
Tsuga heterophylla

The Western hemlock ( Tsuga heterophylla ), also Western Hemlock called, is a species of the genus hemlock ( Tsuga ) in the family of Pinaceae (Pinaceae).

distribution

The western hemlock comes from the west coast of North America and is distributed there from Alaska to northern California . It is hardy in Central Europe and is being planted here in experimental forestry.

The West American hemlock is the "state tree" of the US state Washington .

description

The western hemlock is the largest of the hemlock species. She is an evergreen tree . In the preferred locations of its distribution area, in the Olympic Mountains, it reaches heights of growth over 70 meters. On the British Isles it still reaches 50 meters in height. The western hemlock grows very quickly on preferred soils and achieves an annual growth of over 1 meter. The treetop is conical and narrow in the young tree, widening with age. The leading shoot is clearly overhanging. The bark is gray-brown. The bark of the branches is yellow-brown and finely hairy. The needles are parted on either side of the branch; they are about 0.6 cm long in the top row and 1.5 to 1.8 cm long in the bottom row. This diversity of needles gives rise to the scientific species name heterophylla . The needles are initially fresh green and matt, later dark green and shiny.

The West American hemlock is single-sexed ( monoecious ). The cones are 2 to 3 cm long and bluntly egg-shaped.

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 24.

Taxonomy

Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Coffin. has the following synonyms: Abies heterophylla Raf. , Abies microphylla Raf. , Tsuga albertiana (A.Murray bis) Sénécl. , Pinus pattoniana W.R. McNab .

use

sliced ​​veneer, oiled, not sanded

The West American hemlock provides a light brown wood with a straight grain and an even structure. The annual rings do not stand out as clearly as in the Canadian tsuga , which belongs to the same genus. The wood dries very slowly, so drying damage can easily occur. However, dried wood is very stable. It is one of the lightest conifers on the market and is considered to be more resistant than the wood of the spruce. It is used, among other things, as construction timber, for boxes, plywood and for paper processing.

swell

  • Christopher J. Earle: Tsuga heterophylla. In: The Gymnosperm Database. March 20, 2011, accessed on October 20, 2011 (Description section).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Tropicos. [1]
  2. ↑ Rafaël Govaerts (ed.): Tsuga. In: World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP) - The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved April 11, 2019.
  3. ↑ Andrew Duncan, Gwen Rigby: The Hobby Carpenters - Technique of Wood Processing , German edition in cooperation with the master school Ebern for the carpentry trade, Orbis Verlag, Munich 1984, ISBN 3-572-00763-1 , p. 197

Web links

Commons : West American Hemlock  album with pictures, videos and audio files