Tree · Pinaceae
Eastern hemlock
Tsuga canadensis
Eastern hemlock is recorded as native to 23 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 522 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Eastern hemlock at a glance
- Native in
- 522 counties, across 23 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a PLANTS minimum temperature −33°F
- Mature height
- 105 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Tolerates shade Medium water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 4a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −33°F; zone 4a winters bottom out at −30°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Eastern hemlock is recorded as native to 23 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 522 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 522 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 14 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Georgia 7 counties
- Indiana 12 counties
- Kentucky 53 counties
- Maine 12 counties
- Maryland 7 counties
- Massachusetts 12 counties
- Michigan 60 counties
- Minnesota 1 county
- New Hampshire 10 counties
- New Jersey 16 counties
- New York 41 counties
- North Carolina 24 counties
- Ohio 4 counties
- Pennsylvania 67 counties
- Rhode Island 1 county
- South Carolina 3 counties
- Tennessee 23 counties
- Vermont 12 counties
- Virginia 63 counties
- West Virginia 40 counties
- Wisconsin 40 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Tree
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 105 ft
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Growth form
- Single Stem
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Long
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Tolerant (tolerates shade)
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- None
- Precipitation range
- 32 to 55 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse and medium
- pH range
- 4.2 to 5.7
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- None
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 28 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −33°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 80
- Fire tolerance
- Medium
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Yellow
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Mid Spring
- Foliage color
- Dark Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- Yes
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Pinaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- TSCA
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Tsuga canadensis (PLANTS symbol TSCA).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources