Tsuga dumosa (D. Don) Eichl.

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Tsuga dumosa' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/tsuga/tsuga-dumosa/). Accessed 2024-03-29.

Genus

Common Names

  • Himalayan Hemlock

Synonyms

  • Pinus dumosa D. Don
  • Tsuga brunoniana (Wall.) Carr.
  • Pinus brunoniana Wall.

Glossary

Tibet
Traditional English name for the formerly independent state known to its people as Bod now the Tibet (Xizang) Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China. The name Xizang is used in lists of Chinese provinces.
apex
(pl. apices) Tip. apical At the apex.
linear
Strap-shaped.
midrib
midveinCentral and principal vein in a leaf.

References

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Tsuga dumosa' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/tsuga/tsuga-dumosa/). Accessed 2024-03-29.

A tree 120 ft high in the wild, of cedar-like habit, with spreading branches pendulous at their extremities; young shoots downy on the upper side. Leaves linear, 12 to 113 in. long, 116 to 112 in. wide, tapered at the apex, shortly stalked, minutely toothed, dark green above, with the midrib deeply sunk, the lower surface silvery white, being almost entirely covered with stomata. Cones not stalked, egg-shaped, 34 to 1 in. long; scales roundish, downy at the base outside.

Native of the Himalaya from Kumaon eastward, extending into S.E. Tibet, Burma and probably China; according to Loudon it was introduced in 1838 but there were many other sendings in the next few decades. In the interior of Sikkim and bordering parts of Nepal it reaches a huge size in the moister type of forest – Hooker found it 120 ft high and 28 ft in girth. Needing a long frost-free growing season, it is only adapted to the milder parts of the British Isles, and even there large trees are rare. The specimen at Boconnoc in Cornwall, mentioned by Elwes and Henry in 1906, measured 77 × 1534 ft in 1957 but has since died. Of the other examples mentioned in previous editions the tree at Dropmore in Buckinghamshire is dead, but the specimen at Fota, Co. Cork, still exists; planted in 1855 it measures 62 × 912 ft (1966). Other trees measured recently are: Hergest Croft, Heref., 38 × 3 ft (1961); Rowallane, Co. Down, 48 × 634 ft (1976); Powerscourt, Co. Wicklow, Eire, 52 × 514 ft (1975); Mount Usher, Co. Wicklow, Eire, 51 × 614 ft (1975).

Near London T. dumosa rarely reaches tree size, but is sometimes seen as an attractive shrub. A two-stemmed tree at Borde Hill in Sussex measures 30 × 212 ft (1958).

T. yunnanensis (Franch.) Mast. Abies yunnanensis Franch. – Little is known in cultivation of this ally of T. dumosa, described from specimens collected in Yunnan by the French missionary Delavay and also occurring in W. Szechwan, where Wilson saw it but did not send seed, so far as is known. A plant at Borde Hill, Sussex, in Warren Wood, was identified by A. B. Jackson as belonging to this species. It was raised from Forrest 10293 and measures 35 × 312 ft (1974). Forrest’s field-specimen under 10293 is T. chinensis, but the plant in question is definitely not that species.

From the Supplement (Vol. V)

specimens: Borde Hill, Sussex, 33 × 234 ft and other stems (1981); Tregrehan, Cornwall, 75 × 812 ft (1979); Stonefield, Argyll, 75 × 634 + 6 ft (1981); Castlewellan, Co. Down, 52 × 612 + 614 ft (1982); Powerscourt, Co. Wicklow, Eire, 50 × 512 ft (1980); Kilmacurragh, C. Wicklow, Eire, 72 × 812 + 812 ft (1980).