Handbook of Nature-Study · Lesson CCIV · Topic 30: Evergreens
204. The hemlock
Goal: Your child can recognize a hemlock by its flat, short-stalked needles with two white lines beneath, and its tiny cones.
You'll need
- A hemlock twig with cones
- A hand lens (magnifying glass)
- A nature notebook and a pencil (colored pencils if you have them)
What's in the book
The lesson has a leading thought and seven observations on where the hemlock grows, its shape and bark, its leaves and their little stalks, its small cones and seeds, the birds it shelters and the uses of its bark and wood.
The lesson, step by step
When and where
Any season. Hemlocks grow on cool, shady slopes and ravines, often near streams, and are planted as hedges. The drooping top leader is a good clue from a distance.
Not poison hemlock
The hemlock tree is not the poison hemlock of old stories. That is a weedy plant in the carrot family, a different plant entirely. Still, we never eat wild plants.
The leading thought
This is one of the most common and useful and beautiful of our evergreen trees. Its fine foliage makes it an efficient winter shelter for birds
The leaves
How are the leaves arranged on the twigs? Are all the leaves of about the same size? What is the position of the smaller leaves?
Break off a leaf and describe its shape; its petiole. Does the leaf of any other evergreen have a petiole? What is the color and marking of the hemlock leaf above? Below?
The cones
Are the hemlock cones borne on the tip of the twigs or along the side?
How many scales has it? Where are the seeds borne?
What we know now
In much of the eastern United States, hemlocks are being harmed by a tiny insect from Asia, the hemlock woolly adelgid. Look under the twigs for small white woolly tufts at the bases of the needles. If you find them, you have seen it.
Nature notebook
Make the book's drawings:
The hemlock twig, showing the arrangement of the leaves; single leaf, enlarged; cone; cone scale; seed.
Answers to the book's problems
The flat needles spread in two rows along the twig, with a row of small ones lying on top. Each needle has a tiny stalk (petiole) and two white lines underneath. The cones are only about three-quarters of an inch long and hang from the twig tips. Its bark was once used for tanning leather.
Worked out for this site from the scan. If a number in your copy differs, trust the book.