Tsuga caroliniana Engelmann. Carolina Hemlock, Crag Hemlock. Phen: Mar-Apr; Aug-Sep. Hab: 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; very limited in the western Piedmont, apparently reaching its eastern limit in NC at Hanging Rock State Park, Stokes County, and ranging east to Halifax County in the Piedmont of VA. Dist: 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

Origin/Endemic status: Endemic

Other Comments: 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.

Synonymy: = C, F, FNA2, G, K1, K3, K4, RAB, S, S13, Tn, Va, W, Price (1989)

Show in key(s)

Show parent genus

Heliophily: 6