Tsuga Canadensis - Exceptional Trees

Exceptional Trees

Due to its being a long-lived tree, several very large or otherwise impressive trees exist along the east coast of North America. One organization, the Eastern Native Tree Society (ENTS), has been particularly active in discovering and measuring these trees. In the southern Appalachians, many individuals reach 45 m tall, and one tree has been measured in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to 52.8 m tall, though this tree is now dead from hemlock woolly adelgid; the tallest now surviving, the "Noland Mountain tree", is 51.8 m tall. Altogether, ENTS has confirmed four trees to heights of 51 m or more by climb and tape drop. In the Northeast, the tallest accurately measured tree is 44 m. This tree, named the Seneca hemlock, grows in Cook Forest State Park, PA. Above 43°N latitude, the maximum height of the species is less, under 39 m. In New England, ENTS has measured hemlocks to 42 m, although trees above 39 m are extremely rare in New England. By 44°N, the maximum height is probably not more than 35 m. Diameters of mature hemlocks range from 0.75–1.8 m, with trees over 1.6 m diameter being very rare. In New England, the maximum diameter is 1.4 m.

Trunk volume is the third dimension to receive attention by ENTS. Many eastern hemlocks have been modeled to over 30 m³ trunk volume, and the largest has been calculated to be 44.8 m³, making it the largest natural evergreen conifer in the eastern United States. The center of maximum size development for the species is the southern Appalachians, especially the Great Smoky Mountains.