Tsuga chinensis

Taiwan hemlock (or Chinese hemlock) is in the pine or Pinaceae family and is native to China, Taiwan, Tibet and Vietnam. It is quite variable and has many varieties, although some may be treated as separate species. It grows to a height of about 45 m.

T. chinensis var. tchekiangensis is a variety with branchlets that are more stout, reddish-brown.

• Tree crown is broad, becoming irregular or flat-topped with age
• Needle-like leaves are flat, up to 1.6–2.0 cm long, spirally arranged but appearing 2-ranked. Upper side of leaf is grooved, olive green, and underside is lighter colour with 2 white bands of stomata; apex (tip of leaf) is notched, petioles are crooked.
• Species is monoecious; pollen (staminate) cones are dark purple, 6 mm long, appearing singly on 1-year old shoots, or in groups of 1–5 in 2-year old shoots. Female (pistillate) flowers are on the terminals of short shoots, drooping, rosy purple and 6 mm in length. They mature into long-ovoid, non-fragmenting pendulous cones 2–2.5 cm long by 1 cm wide, originally green but maturing to red-brown. Cone scales are large and suborbicular, bracts are small, 2-lobed.
• Buds are ovoid, globose, 1-4 mm in diameter; bark is blackish-brown, scaly with irregular longitudinal breaks and tiered layers of yellowish-brown corky bark and brown lignified bark; inner bark is about 5 mm thick and pale reddish brown.