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Western Hemlock
Quileute - tiŽla; te-e-thlu
Quinault - kuhwa'lp
Family: Pine (Pinaceae)
Genus: Tsuga
Species: heterophylla
Botanical Description: Tree up to 60 m tall, with a narrow droopy crown, branches sweep down with delicate, feathery foliage, Bark rough, scally, furrowed, thick and reddish-brown. Leaves are short, blunt, flat needles, irregularly spaced & of unequal lengths, yellowish-green on top & whitish below. Oblong seed cones purplish-green turning brown at maturity, numerous pollen cones. Prefers low to middle elevations, fairly dry to wet sites, adapted to growing on decaying wood, (see nurse log behind this tree!), shade tolerant.
Ethnographic Information: Quinaults made a yellow-orange paint from mashed hemlock bark mixed with salmon eggs. Quileute used hemlock bark for tanning hides. A reddish dye made from the bark was used to camouflage fish nets. Smell of the dye reportedly attracts salmon. Haida people made large feast bowls from wood of bent hemlock trunks. Many tribes used boughs for bedding. Pitch was used for face paint, to prevent chapping & sunburn, & to rid the hair of vermin. Various medicinal preparations were made from the bark
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