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Canadian hemlock

Tsuga canadensis · Pinaceae · all Tsuga records

Your local evidence lens

Separate evidence questions, never one approval badge

Set a ZIP to compare this record with state distribution, native range, USDA hardiness, and invasive records.

A genus split is not a placement verdict. Set a ZIP to read the local documented split.

1. Fire evidence and conditions

Fire evidence: Highly flammable — location does not change the cited classification.
Fire-performance conditions: 1 condition stated in cited fire-evidence rows.
Fire ecology context: No section-reviewed fire-ecology context is normalized.
Placement evidence: 3 source placement records; source schemes remain separate.
Evidence regions: Global; Michigan / Great Lakes; NC; North Carolina; North Carolina / southeastern US; Ohio / Midwest; Virginia / Mid-Atlantic; eastern US
Maintenance: No sourced horticultural maintenance assertion is normalized; fire-test conditions do not supply maintenance advice.

Typed publication scope: 4 scopes across 4 cited fire sources

Wildfire-resistant Landscape Plants for Michigan (Extension Bulletin E2948) · Official scoped edition
- MI; partial normalized coverage · 2007-01-01
  Michigan State University Extension Bulletin E2948 is explicitly a list of wildfire-resistant landscape plants for Michigan and includes a Michigan-native field. FireApproved publishes 221 exact GBIF owners from 226 represented source rows and holds 15 complex or non-exact rows. This dated publication scope is not a current site-suitability determination.
Fire-Resistant Landscaping in North Carolina (AG-874) · Official scoped edition
- NC; complete normalized coverage · 2025-03-26
  The complete three-table AG-874 plant list is explicitly for North Carolina and contains 202 low-, medium-, or high-flammability rows. FireApproved accounts for all source rows under its strict taxonomy and lineage rules; source scope does not establish local suitability at a particular North Carolina site.
Firewise Landscaping (OSU Extension Bulletin 921) · Official scoped edition
- OH; partial normalized coverage · 2006-03-01
  Ohio State University Extension Bulletin 921 is an Ohio publication that describes Ohio fire seasons and landscape conditions and labels nativity to Ohio. FireApproved publishes 352 exact source-owning plant records from its eight rated tables. This historical publication scope does not assert current extension endorsement or that a listed plant suits every Ohio site.
Virginia Firescapes — Firewise Landscaping for Woodland Homes (430-300) · Official scoped edition
- VA; partial normalized coverage · 2009-04-15
  Virginia Cooperative Extension's publication opens with Virginia wildfire conditions, identifies its Virginia Firewise Landscaping Task Force, and labels plants native to Virginia. FireApproved publishes 306 exact source owners. Publication scope does not establish parcel suitability or current endorsement of this archived 2009 list.

2. Why this plant is relevant here

State distribution: Documented in AL, CT, DC, DE, GA, IN, KY, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, SC, TN, VA, VT, WI, WV.
Native range: Current cited native range in AL, CT, GA, IN, KY, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, SC, TN, VA, VT, WI, WV.
Introduced / established: No introduced or established row is normalized; that does not prove native status.
USDA hardiness: 2 applicable cited hardiness statements overlap but have different boundaries; compare each complete source row.

3. Legal, ecological, and broader status

Legal-list status: Set a location for an exact legal-list result; source silence is not clearance.
Seed-list status: Set a location to compare the separate state noxious-weed seed layer.
Reported invasive here: No ecological invasive report is normalized; that does not prove noninvasiveness.
Broader regional context: Aggregate AK, HI, and L48 evidence is shown only as regional context, never as an exact-state finding.
Federal context: Federal designations remain separate from state legal-list results.

How to read this page

The status above is computed from the cited rows below: independent recommendations can support a fire-resistant result, an avoid row can produce keep-away, and disagreement stays visible as conflict. Placement notes preserve each source’s own scheme rather than translating unlike rules into one scale. This is evidence about a plant, not permission to plant it in every part of the defensible space; Zone 0 remains noncombustible.

Canadian hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) — Photo: no rights reserved (CC0), via iNaturalist. Species-typical, not necessarily this cultivar.

Form: tree
USDA hardiness: Applicable source statements overlap but have different boundaries; compare each source
Mature height: ~100 ft
Light: Part sun
Water need: moderate
Current cited native range: AL, CT, GA, IN, KY, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, SC, TN, VA, VT, WI, WV
Grows in: AL, CT, DC, DE, GA, IN, KY, MA +18
Rated in: Global; Michigan / Great Lakes; NC; North Carolina +4
Family: Pinaceae
Evidence: 12 cited sources

Native and introduced range evidence

These are exact U.S. botanical-area records from the cited range source. Native and introduced describe biogeographic relationship, not fire performance or planting approval. Doubtful and extinct rows stay visible but do not count as current presence.

Current native

23

exact source areas

Current introduced

0

exact source areas

Qualified

0

doubtful or extinct source rows

23 native source areas · World Checklist of Vascular Plants, version 16 v16, as of 2026-06-04

Alabama (AL)
Connecticut (CT)
Georgia (GA)
Indiana (IN)
Kentucky (KY)
Massachusetts (MA)
Maryland (MD)
Maine (ME)
Michigan (MI)
Minnesota (MN)
North Carolina (NC)
New Hampshire (NH)
New Jersey (NJ)
New York (NY)
Ohio (OH)
Pennsylvania (PA)
Rhode I. (RI)
South Carolina (SC)
Tennessee (TN)
Virginia (VA)
Vermont (VT)
Wisconsin (WI)
West Virginia (WV)

The lossless worldwide derivative is retained once in the research corpus; object pages repeat only exact U.S. areas needed by the local lens. The JSON twin carries the same page assertions.

Plant hardiness evidence

These values describe the plant source. Your ZIP zone comes from the separate 2023 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map. Whole-zone values stay whole-zone, and a single unresolved value is not treated as a tolerance range. Different source boundaries stay separate: overlapping statements are compared independently, while only ranges with no shared zone are called a conflict.

Eastern United States Fire Performance Plant Selector · record tsuga-canadensis · 2016-wayback · as of 2026-08-26

Source prints 4 · single-value meaning unresolved · whole zone precision · source stated

Source taxon: Tsuga canadensis · exact match.

Source location: Cold Hardiness Zone field in the recovered selector record.

Not used for comparison: The recovered selector prints one Cold Hardiness Zone value but does not define it as a minimum threshold or a one-zone range.
Wildfire-resistant Landscape Plants for Michigan (Extension Bulletin E2948) · record tree:Tsuga canadensis · New, January 2007 · as of 2026-08-26

3–7 explicit range · whole zone precision · source stated

Source taxon: Tsuga canadensis · exact match.

Source location: Table 1, tree row.
USDA PLANTS Database — Plant Characteristics · record TSCA · PLANTS Help Document 2022; characteristics cache retrieved 2026-08-23 · as of 2026-08-26

Minimum 3b · no upper limit documented · half zone precision · derived containing band

Exact source measurement: -33°F; mapped only to its containing half-zone.

Source taxon: Tsuga canadensis · source identifier match.

Source location: PlantCharacteristics record 15604, Temperature, Minimum (°F).

Conditions in the fire evidence

These describe tested or rated plant material. They are not horticultural maintenance instructions.

dead material: FLAMITS: FLAMmability plant traiTS database evidence row (condition method), FLAMITS: FLAMmability plant traiTS database evidence row (condition method), FLAMITS: FLAMmability plant traiTS database evidence row (condition method), FLAMITS: FLAMmability plant traiTS database evidence row (condition method), FLAMITS: FLAMmability plant traiTS database evidence row (condition method)

Where its sources say to plant it

Placement rules below use each source's own distances or named zones, tied to its rating. They are not interchangeable with the directory's current Zone 0 guidance.

Eastern United States Fire Performance Plant Selector: Landscape Zone 3 — 10–30 ft from the structure; thin vegetation, remove debris, and minimize plant massing [Fire Performance Plant Selector landscape zone] (with its avoid rating)
Firewise Landscaping: keep 30 ft from the home (Zone 3) [OSU B921 source-category siting] (with its avoid rating)
North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: tsuga-canadensis [nc-toolbox-flammability-facet] (with its avoid rating)

The evidence

Grouped by what each source concluded. Primary evidence rated the plant itself (a lab, field program, or original curation); corroboration compiled or republished another source's rating and resolves to its root lineage.

Avoids (6)

Eastern United States Fire Performance Plant Selector — USDA Forest Service Northeastern Area S&PF + state Firewise programs (WV, OH, PA, DE, DC, MD, NJ) · 2016-wayback · original source Primary evidence Keyed curation lineage: ufifas-srs-tree

“NOT Firewise (4)”

Flat needle with two white strips on underside-hemlock adelgid destroying natural stands in region.
Firewise Landscaping in North Carolina (E05-44596) — NC State University / NC Cooperative Extension + USFWS (Bardon, Van Druten) · 2005 · original source Primary evidence Expert-curated lineage: nc-tree

“High flammability rating”
Firewise Landscaping (OSU Extension Bulletin 921) — Ohio State University Extension (Sydnor, Steward, Kloss / Ohio DNR Division of Forestry) · 2006 · original source Primary evidence Expert-curated lineage: ufifas-srs-tree

“H flammability”

Very environmentally site specific; two exotic pests may be a concern in the future.
Virginia Firescapes — Firewise Landscaping for Woodland Homes (430-300) — Virginia Cooperative Extension / Virginia Tech (Appleton, Frenzel, Hillegass, Lyons, Steward — Virginia Firewise Landscaping Task Force) · 2009 · original source Primary evidence Expert-curated lineage: ufifas-srs-tree

“H flammability”

Will not tolerate drought and heat. Requires good drainage.
Fire-Resistant Landscaping in North Carolina (AG-874) — NC State Extension (Kays, Fawcett, Query, Thompson-Welch, Bardon) · 2025 · original source Primary evidence Expert-curated lineage: nc-tree resolves to Firewise Landscaping in North Carolina (E05-44596)

“high flammability”
North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox — plant profiles and flammability ratings — NC State Extension (plants.ces.ncsu.edu) · live facet capture accessed 2026-08-23 · original source Corroboration Expert-curated lineage: nc-tree resolves to Firewise Landscaping in North Carolina (E05-44596)

“high flammability” · original source

NC Toolbox facet capture lists "Tsuga canadensis" under the high flammability tag.

Listed without a rating (5)

FLAMITS: FLAMmability plant traiTS database — Dryad / Global Ecology and Biogeography · Dryad version 9 · original source Corroboration Trait database lineage: meta-aggregator

5 cited rows from this source; its identity, lineage and tier are stated once.
- “flame height (cm): 9.2” · score 9.2 (FLAMITS — flame height (cm)) · condition: dead material · condition method: Materials and Methods, Laboratory Burning
  
  FLAMITS record 13708; Combustibility measurement; plant part litter; fuel all; predrying yes; device burning bench; site Varner2021-1; sampling ND. Primary study Varner2021: Varner, J. M., Kane, J. M., Kreye, J. K., & Shearman, T. M. (2021). Litter Flammability of 50 Southeastern North American Tree Species: Evidence for Mesophication Gradients Across Multiple Ecosystems. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, 4, 727042. Primary-study method: freshly fallen litter was oven-dried at 50–60°C for at least 24 hours to constant mass; each trial used a 15 g dry litter fuelbed, with five to seven trials per species.
- “flaming duration (s): 63.8” · score 63.8 (FLAMITS — flaming duration (s)) · condition: dead material · condition method: Materials and Methods, Laboratory Burning
  
  FLAMITS record 13709; Sustainability measurement; plant part litter; fuel all; predrying yes; device burning bench; site Varner2021-1; sampling ND. Primary study Varner2021: Varner, J. M., Kane, J. M., Kreye, J. K., & Shearman, T. M. (2021). Litter Flammability of 50 Southeastern North American Tree Species: Evidence for Mesophication Gradients Across Multiple Ecosystems. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, 4, 727042. Primary-study method: freshly fallen litter was oven-dried at 50–60°C for at least 24 hours to constant mass; each trial used a 15 g dry litter fuelbed, with five to seven trials per species.
- “smouldering duration (s): 23.8” · score 23.8 (FLAMITS — smouldering duration (s)) · condition: dead material · condition method: Materials and Methods, Laboratory Burning
  
  FLAMITS record 13710; Sustainability measurement; plant part litter; fuel all; predrying yes; device burning bench; site Varner2021-1; sampling ND. Primary study Varner2021: Varner, J. M., Kane, J. M., Kreye, J. K., & Shearman, T. M. (2021). Litter Flammability of 50 Southeastern North American Tree Species: Evidence for Mesophication Gradients Across Multiple Ecosystems. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, 4, 727042. Primary-study method: freshly fallen litter was oven-dried at 50–60°C for at least 24 hours to constant mass; each trial used a 15 g dry litter fuelbed, with five to seven trials per species.
- “burnt biomass (%): 2.3” · score 2.3 (FLAMITS — burnt biomass (%)) · condition: dead material · condition method: Materials and Methods, Laboratory Burning
  
  FLAMITS record 13711; Consumability measurement; plant part litter; fuel all; predrying yes; device burning bench; site Varner2021-1; sampling ND. Primary study Varner2021: Varner, J. M., Kane, J. M., Kreye, J. K., & Shearman, T. M. (2021). Litter Flammability of 50 Southeastern North American Tree Species: Evidence for Mesophication Gradients Across Multiple Ecosystems. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, 4, 727042. Primary-study method: freshly fallen litter was oven-dried at 50–60°C for at least 24 hours to constant mass; each trial used a 15 g dry litter fuelbed, with five to seven trials per species.
- “flame intensity (kW/m): 3” · score 3 (FLAMITS — flame intensity (kW/m)) · condition: dead material · condition method: Materials and Methods, Laboratory Burning
  
  FLAMITS record 13712; Combustibility measurement; plant part litter; fuel all; predrying yes; device burning bench; site Varner2021-1; sampling ND. Primary study Varner2021: Varner, J. M., Kane, J. M., Kreye, J. K., & Shearman, T. M. (2021). Litter Flammability of 50 Southeastern North American Tree Species: Evidence for Mesophication Gradients Across Multiple Ecosystems. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, 4, 727042. Primary-study method: freshly fallen litter was oven-dried at 50–60°C for at least 24 hours to constant mass; each trial used a 15 g dry litter fuelbed, with five to seven trials per species.

Fire-resistant trees instead

Red oak
Quercus rubra

Basswood
Tilia americana

Red maple
Acer rubrum

Wild black cherry
Prunus serotina

White oak
Quercus alba

American beech
Fagus grandifolia

Fire-resistant trees listed above

Last verified 2026-08-23. JSON (CC BY 4.0)

Profiles: USDA PLANTS · GBIF · iNaturalist · Wikidata · ITIS

Tsuga canadensis (Canadian hemlock). FireApproved. https://fireapproved.com/plants/tsuga-canadensis/. Last verified 2026-08-23.