The name Pennsylvania means “Penn’s woods,” a reference to William Penn. When it was first settled, most of Pennsylvania was forested. Today, forests cover a little more than half the state.
Pennsylvania might have become the first of several states to adopt the tulip poplar as state tree. The Pennsylvania State College passed the following resolution endorsing the tulip tree as Pennsylvania’s state flower and tree in 1929, I believe:
WHEREAS, The tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) of the Magnolia Family is a native tree of Pennsylvania and found throughout the State as a forest and cultivated shade tree, and
WHEREAS, It is an important timber tree of the State, its wood being used in cabinet work, interior finish, boat building, wooden pumps, wooden bowls, and as a substitute for Cuban Cedar in the manufacture of cigar boxes, and
WHEREAS, Its beautiful tulip-like flowers, buds, leaves and fruits are easily conventionalized for artistic use and suitable for decorative purposes, and
WHEREAS, The leaf resembles a keystone in shape and is, therefore, a fitting emblem and symbol for the Keystone State, the arch in the thirteen original colonies, and
WHEREAS, It is found in full bloom the latter part of May when we wish to commemorate with floral emblems the brave deeds of our soldiers of the Civil, Spanish-American, and Great World Wars, and
WHEREAS, It has been selected by an overwhelming plurality vote of approximately forty societies in the State, that are interested in securing a flower to represent the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,
Therefore, Be it recommended that the flower of the tulip tree and the tree (Liriodendron tulipifera L.) be adopted by choice as the State flower and State tree of Pennsylvania, and that the citizens of the State and the children of the public schools be instructed to call the flower of the tulip tree the State flower and the tree the State tree of Pennsylvania, and that they shall be taught the identifying characters of the tree and flower and the correct methods of planting and caring for the same in private and public grounds and along our highways.
A Pennsylvanian Tree
But the tulip poplar was rejected, partly because it’s rare in northern Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania’s reputation as a lumber state was based on its great coniferous forests of hemlock and pine. From 1860 until 1870, Pennsylvania led the country in lumber production. Hemlock made up two thirds of Pennsylvania’s lumber production in 1899, the industry’s banner year.
Even earlier, Pennsylvania’s forests were of vital importance to settlers. Trees provided shelter, furniture, fuel, and nuts and berries. And how could people haul their goods to market without wooden wagons and wooden bridges?
No other Pennsylvania tree has bark as rich in tannin as does the hemlock. For this reason, hemlock has been prized ever since the tanning industry started in this country.
“If Pennsylvanians were to select one tree as characteristic of our state, nothing would be better than Hemlock.”
So wrote Dr. Joseph T. Rothrock, the “Father of Pennsylvania Forestry,” in 1896.
In 1927, the Pennsylvania legislature debated the merits of the tulip poplar. A large number of residents wanted it adopted as the state tree, with its blossoms the state flower.
But the legislature nixed the tulip poplar. The tree’s scarcity in northern Pennsylvania might have played a role in their decision.
A State Symbol
In 1931, Pennsylvania lawmakers were again asked to rule on a state tree. After considerable debate, the hemlock was adopted on June 22, along with a state bird.
The hemlock act contained the following preamble:
WHEREAS, the hemlock (Tsunga Canadensis linnaeus) is still today, as it was of old, the tree most typical of the forests of Pennsylvania; and
WHEREAS, the hemlock yielded to our pioneers the wood from which they wrought their cabin homes; and
WHEREAS, the hemlock everywhere lends kindly shelter and sure haven to the wild things of the forest; and
WHEREAS, the lighted hemlock at Christmas time dazzles the bright eyes of the child with an unguessed hope, and bears to the aged, in its leaves of evergreen, a sign and symbol of faith and immortality.
Pennsylvania’s state tree is now known as the eastern hemlock. It grows in every county in Pennsylvania, but is most common in mountainous regions. Eastern hemlocks can grow to a height of more than one hundred feet.
Hemlock was pronounced the most picturesque and beautiful of the world’s evergreens by A. J. Downing, the father of landscape gardening in America. Trees growing in the open form conical crowns of dense foliage with branches down to the ground. Hemlocks are often planted as ornamentals.
Washington State’s official tree is the western hemlock, which can exceed two hundred feet in height.
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