Mountain Hemlock
Tsuga mertensiana
Mountain hemlock is a graceful, blue-green hemlock of snowy western high country, with nodding leaders and soft, plush foliage. A cool-climate evergreen for moist, well-drained mountain sites. Like other hemlocks, the inner bark has served as a famine-food flour, and young shoots brew into an herbal tea.
- Family
- Pinaceae
- Type
- tree
- Lifespan
- perennial
- Height
- 125–125 ft
- Spacing
- 20–35 ft apart
- Light
- sun, part shade, shade
- Soil moisture
- moist
- Soil pH
- acidic, neutral
- Bloom
- June, July
- Bloom colors
- yellow, green, brown
- Wildlife value
- songbirds, mammals, larval host
- Caterpillar hosts
- ~92 butterfly & moth species
- Landscape uses
- hedge or screen
- Native states
- AK, CA, ID, MT, NV, OR, WA