Hemlock Adelgid -Adelges
tsugae
The white, powdery substance
on this Eastern Hemlock is evidence of the Hemlock Adelgid.
This introduced insect has been in the United States since 1924.
It is believed to be native to Asia and is a serious threat to
both the Eastern and Carolina Hemlock tree. A similar pest, the
Woolly Balsam Adelgid, Adelges piceae, extirpated Fraser
Firs from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in a period
of 40 years. If, as it is feared, the Hemlocks are doomed, the
southern Appalachian ecosystem (as we know it) may soon be nothing
more than a memory. In the eastern U.S. it is present from southeastern
Maine to northern Georgia and west to Tennessee.
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