Tsuga diversifolia
Northern Japanese Hemlock ( Tsuga diversifolia )
The Northern Japanese Hemlock ( Tsuga diversifolia ) is a coniferous tree from the kind of hemlock. Its distribution area is located on the Japanese islands.
Description
The Northern Japanese Hemlock is one to about 20 meters, a maximum of 26 meter high tree, but in culture it grows often Shrubby. The strain reaches a diameter at breast height of 130 centimeters and has a flat, longitudinally cracked Schuppenborke. The crown is conical, the branches are horizontal and are densely branched, the peak drive is overhanging. Young twigs are hairy yellow to reddish brown and short. The dark brown and obovate winter buds are 3 millimeters.
The ganzrandigen needles are dense, spirally and parted the branches. They are unequal in size, are 5 to 10 mm long and 2.0 to 2.5 millimeters wide and widen towards the tip. The top is very shiny, dark green and furrowed, the bottom shows two chalky white stomatal strips, the needle tip is clearly notched. The needles stay five to six years on the tree.
The male flowers are yellow, nearly globose, 3-5 mm in size and grow in the leaf axils. The female inflorescences are dull purple, egg-shaped and 5 millimeters long. They appear at the ends of short branches. The mature cones are dark brown, hanging, about 2 inches long, 1.5 to 2.3 inches wide and broadly ovate to spherical. They are very short -stalked, nearly sessile. The cone scales are shiny, slightly emarginate and rounded - ovate. The seeds are 3 mm long and have almost twice as long wings. Flowering time is May, the seeds ripen from September to October.
Distribution and ecology
The range of the species is on the Japanese islands of Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu.
The northern Japanese hemlock grows in rainy mountain forests and other alpine areas at altitudes from 700 to 2000 meters on fresh to moist, acidic to neutral, sandy- rich, sandy- gravelly or rocky, shallow soils. They are found on sunny to absonnigen, summer cool and winter cold locations. It is frost hardy. Similar to most other Hemlockarten but it needs as a young tree shade or partial shade.
It forms large pure stands or grows along with Veitch's Fir ( Abies veitchii ), Japanese larch (Larix kaempferi ) and Hiba arborvitae ( Thujopsis dolabrata ).
System
The Northern Japanese Hemlock ( Tsuga diversifolia ) is a species of the genus of hemlock ( Tsuga ). There she is assigned to the subgenus Tsuga. It was in 1867 by German - Russian botanist Karl Johann Maximowicz as Abies diversifolia firstdescribed ( basionym ). The English botanist Maxwell Tylden Masters she put 1881 in the genus Tsuga. It is under the synonym Tsuga sieboldii var nana seen as a variety of the southern Japanese hemlock.
The specific epithet diversifolia comes from Latin and means " verschiedenblättrig ".
Use
The wood of the northern Japanese hemlock is rarely used, however, the species has a high ornamental value and is hardy in Central Europe. It was introduced in 1861 by botanist John Gould Veitch in Europe.