PINACEAE - - Pine Family

Tsuga caroliniana Engelmann — Carolina Hemlock

Habitat:

Primarily in open forests on ridge tops, rocky bluffs, or gorge walls, generally in drier and rockier sites than T. canadensis, but the two sometimes growing in close proximity or even intermixed in humid gorges. T. caroliniana is a rather narrow Southern Appalachian endemic, occurring only in w. NC, e. TN, sw. and sc. VA, nw. SC, and ne. GA. Carolina Hemlock has achieved a substantial reputation in NC as a Christmas tree, and is finally coming into favor as an ornamental; Coker and Totten (1945) wrote "the Carolina Hemlock is a very beautiful tree in cultivation, perhaps the handsomest of any eastern American conifer, combining in a remarkable way delicacy, symmetry, and strength." The hemlock woolly adelgid threatens this species.

Habitat information from:
Weakley, Alan S., Flora of the Southern and Mid-Atlantic States, Working Draft of 21 May 2015.

The range of Tsuga caroliniana (Carolina Hemlock)

Kartesz, J.T., The Biota of North America Program (BONAP). 2015. North American Plant Atlas. (http://bonap.net/napa). Chapel Hill, N.C. [maps generated from Kartesz, J.T. 2015. Floristic Synthesis of North America, Version 1.0. Biota of North America Program (BONAP). (in press)].

The Georgia range of Tsuga caroliniana (Carolina Hemlock)

Zomlefer, W.B., J.R. Carter, & D.E. Giannasi. 2014 (and ongoing). The Atlas of Georgia Plants. University of Georgia Herbarium (Athens, Georgia) and Valdosta State University Herbarium (Valdosta, Georgia). Available at: http://www.georgiaherbaria.org/.