Dendrology Series, Cache #2, Eastern Hemlock
This is a series of caches to encourage folks to get to know trees and how to identify them. As geocachers, we interact with trees all the time, so why not learn more about them!
You will find this cache under a:
Eastern Hemlock
Scientific name: Tsuga canadensis
Also Known As: eastern hemlock-spruce, Canadian hemlock, and pruche du Canada (French)
Hemlocks are very common evergreen trees, found in cool moist temperate forests of North America and Asia. The Eastern Hemlock is native to Michigan and most of the northeastern United States. Eastern hemlock needles are flat, not round like pine needles. They look very similar to fir needles, but instead of straight edges, they taper slighly. Many hemlock trees of North America are infected with an tiny sap-sucking insect called woolly adelgid, which is a serious threat the both the Eastern and Carolina hemlock species. Egg sacs resembling tiny cotton balls can be found on the underside of the leaves of infected trees. The wood of the hemlock tree used for general construction, crates, pulp for making paper, and railroad ties. Untreated, the wood is not durable if exposed to the elements, has low value for heating. (from Wikipedia)
Additional information: Virginia Tech Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation
FUN FACT: The name "hemlock" is derived from the smell of the crushed foliage, which resembles that of the poison hemlock plant. However, unlike it's namesake, hemlock trees are not poisonous.
Other trees in the immediate vicinity of this cache: balsam fir
This cache is located just off a Chassell ski trail and near the new "Green Burial" section of the Chassell Township Cemetery. This is an area of the cemetery, added in 2016 by the Keweenaw Green Burial Association (KGBA), that is specifically dedicated to green/natural burial and perpetual maintenance of those grounds as natural woodland forest.