Answer: slow; late; low; vegetative
Explanation: Due to the casting of deep shade on the forest understory by eastern hemlock, direct sunlight and other necessities for photosynthesis and other life processes needed by the herbaceous plant species for optimum growth is being deprived.
However, coupled with the nature of these herbaceous plant species, having non-woody stems with their growth above the ground level often dieing off particularly in winter in the temperate zone, makes their growth in that kind of location to be stunted.
Thus, herbaceous plant species with slow growth rate leading to late sexual maturuty while having low expanded energy on seeds due to low photosynthetic rate and low vegetative reproduction should be expected.