Flora of North America species comparison

Tsuga caroliniana is valuable as an attractive ornamental; a number of cultivars have been developed. The wood is of little commercial importance because of the combination of mediocre quality and the relative rarity of the species in nature.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Tsuga heterophylla is a dominant species over much of its broad distributional range. It has become the most important timber hemlock in North America. The wood is superior to that of other hemlocks for building purposes and it makes excellent pulp for paper production.

Tsuga × jeffreyi (Henry) Henry was described from southwestern British Columbia and western Washington as a hybrid between T. heterophylla and T. mertensiana. Hybridization is rare, if it occurs at all, and it is therefore of little consequence (R.J. Taylor 1972). At the upper elevational limits of its distribution and under stressful conditions, T. heterophylla tends to resemble T. mertensiana, e.g., leaves are less strictly 2-ranked and stomatal bands on the abaxial leaf surfaces are less conspicuous than at lower elevations.

Western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) is the state tree of Washington.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)