Scientific name: Tsuga chinensis (Franchet)E.Pritzel 1900

Synonyms: Abies chinensis Franch., Tsuga formosana Hayata, Tsuga patens Downie, Tsuga tchekiangensis Flous

Common names: Chinese hemlock, Tie shan (Chinese)

Description

Tree to 50 m tall but usually much shorter, with trunk often forking above 10 m, to 2 m in diameter. Bark blocky, cinnamon brown to gray-brown. Crown broadly conical, flat-topped in age. Twigs with transient hairs in the grooves between the attached leaf bases. Winter buds bluntly rounded, 1-4 mm long. Needles variable in length, (0.6-)1-2.5(-3) cm long, parallel-sided, the edge generally toothless or with a few teeth toward the notched tip, the white stomatal bands beneath each with six to nine lines of stomates. Pollen cones 3-5 mm long, yellow. Seed cones green before maturity, ripening light brown, 1.5-2.8(-4) cm long, opening to (1-)1.5-2.5(-3.5) cm wide, the seed scales 8-14 mm long. Seed body 3.5-4.5 mm long, the wing 3.5-4.5 mm longer.

Widely distributed in China from Zhejiang and Guangdong west to southern Gansu and Yunnan, extending just over the border into northwestern Vietnam, and in Taiwan. Humid temperate and montane forests with hardwoods and other conifers; (600-)1,200-3,200 m.

Conservation Status

Red List Category & Criteria: Least Concern

(The assessment of the species as a whole is driven by the status of its nominate variety which is widespread and not under any threat. The species is therefore Least Concern)

References

Farjon, A. (2010). A Handbook of the World's Conifers. Koninklijke Brill, Leiden.

Eckenwalder, J.E. (2009) Conifers of the World: The Complete Reference. Timber Press, Portland.

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Cambridge, UK /Gland, Switzerland