Habitat

• native to the southern Appalachian Mountains
• zone 5

Habit and Form

• a needle evergreen tree
• medium-sized, reaching 40' to 60' with a 20' to 25' spread
• branches horizontal to slightly pendulous
• a bit stiffer-looking than T. canadensis
• overall pyramidal shape

Summer Foliage

• leaves are 0.25" to 0.75" long and about 0.10" wide
• leaves radially arranged on top of the branches and at the tips, but also 2-ranked in places
• dark green above, with 2 white bands on the underside
• shoots pubescent
• needles are glossy and look "plastic-like"

Autumn Foliage

• evergreen, no fall color

Flowers

• monoecious, with male and female flowers
• small and inconspicuous

Fruit

• small cones, about 1" to 1.5" long
• light brown color when mature
• larger than T. canadensis cones with cone scales that recurve slightly and open widely

Bark

• reddish brown
• scaly and fissured

Culture

• best growth on cool, moist, well-drained soils
• transplant from containers or B&B
• ovoid, dry, hot or windy sites
• full sun or partially shaded locations are best
• tolerant of pruning, but perhaps not as tolerant as T. canadensis
• perhaps more pollution tolerant than T. canadensis

Landscape Use

• lawn tree
• specimen
• screening; especially useful in shade locations
• small grouping or groves

Liabilities

• spider mites
• deer like to browse the foliage or rub the bark with their antlers
• not heat, wind, or drought tolerant
• hemlock wooly adelgid is a new and devastating insect pest that can be easily controlled, but left unchecked can kill large plants in 3 years.
• may be hard to locate for purchase

ID Features

• pyramidal, medium-sized, needle evergreen tree
• short flattened needles
• twigs roughened by persistent leaf bases remaining after needles fall
• numerous small, widely opened cones
• separated from T. canadensis by the way the needles radiate from around the stem, the larger cones and the smooth leaf margins
• rhizomatous growth
• foliage in terminal whorls
• diamond-shaped leaves with coarse serrations at the end of each leaf

Propagation

• by seed
• cultivars are grafted

Cultivars/Varieties

This plant is not common in the industry in any form, but specialty nurseries do list selected varieties occasionally.

'Arnold Pyramid' - This is a dense columnar form that grows to 40' tall.

'Compacta' - A shrub-like plant, this cultivar grows densely to form a mound that is wider than tall.

'Greenbrier' and 'La Bar's Weeping' (also listed as 'LaBar Weeping') - These are unusual weeping forms. The first selection forms a small tree much wider than tall with pendulous branches, while the latter cultivar naturally creeps along the ground. It must be staked upright if a small tree is desired to display the red-brown stems and deep green needles.