Douglas Fir

Pseudotsuga menziesii is a most important timber tree, valued in both the Old and New worlds. The two intergrading varieties are sympatric in southern British Columbia and northeastern Washington.

Douglas-fir ( Pseudotsuga menziesii ) is the state tree of Oregon.

Trees to 90(--100)m; trunk to 4.4m diam.; crown narrow to broadly conic, flattened in age. Twigs slender, pubescent, becoming glabrous with age. Leaves 15--30(--40) × 1--1.5mm, yellow-green to dark or bluish green, apex obtuse to acute. Pollen cones yellow-red. Seed cones 4--10 × 3--3.5cm. Seeds 5--6mm, wing longer than seed body.

Trees to 100 m tall; trunk to 4 m d.b.h. in native range; bark dark gray-brown or blackish green, smooth, with resin blisters, aging rough and scaly with deep longitudinal fissures; branchlets initially light yellow, becoming red-brown when dry, slightly pubescent. Leaves dark green adaxially, linear, 1.5-3 cm × 1-2 mm, stomatal bands 2, abaxial, white, apex obtuse or acuminate. Seed cones brown, glossy, ellipsoid-ovoid, ca. 8 × 3.5-4 cm. Seed scales ± rhombic, 2-2.5 × 2-2.5 cm, as long as or longer than wide. Bracts exserted, longer than seed scales, cusp straight or reflexed, 6-10 mm, tapering at apex, lateral lobes wide and short, denticulate at margin.

Cultivated. Beijing Shi, Jiangxi (Lu Shan) [native to W Canada, Mexico, W United States]

Abies menziesii Mirbel, Mém. Mus. Hist. Nat. 13: 63, 70. 1825; A. mucronata Rafinesque; A. taxifolia Poiret 1805, not Desfontaines 1804; Pinus taxifolia Lambert 1803, not Salisbury 1796; Pseudotsuga douglasii (Lindley) Carrière; P. mucronata (Rafinesque) Sudworth; P. taxifolia (Lambert) Britton

Abies menziesii Mirbel, Mem. Mus. Hist. Nat. 13: 70. 1825; Abies taxifolia Lambert (1803), not Salisbury (1796); Pinus douglasii Sabine ex D. Don; Pseudotsuga douglasii (Sabine ex D. Don) Carriere; P. taxifolia (Lambert) Britton.