Scientific Name
Pseudotsuga menziesii
Douglas-fir, the state tree of Oregon, has a wide native distribution throughout the western mountains of North America, including the Colorado Rockies, where it can grow to a height of over 120 feet. Currently, the Colorado champion is 100 feet tall. However, those sizes are dwarfed by the type of Douglas-fir that grows in the Cascade Mountains, where it can exceed 300 feet and ranks among the world’s tallest trees. In nature, these trees can reach a substantial age — as many as 1,000 years. The name of this tree comes from David Douglas, a Scottish plant explorer who brought it from the Pacific Coast to Europe. Over the years, the tree was classified with other conifer genera, including the true firs (genus Abies), but was finally accorded its own genus along with several sibling species that share its unique cones.
It’s worth feeling this tree’s foliage — it may look superficially like that of spruce, but it is much softer and the needle tips are blunt. Though the needles grow out from all around the twigs, they twist to give the effect of being two-ranked. The foliage of most Douglas-fir trees here, derived from hardier Rocky Mountain sources, tends toward bluish green, a color favored by many high-altitude plant species. The 3 to 4 inch long papery seed cones are an excellent identifier of this species because they have three-pronged bracts that protrude from beneath the cone scales and look a bit like the hind end of a mouse trying to hide in the cone. Maturing trees typically lose their lower branches, revealing relatively slender trunks. Douglas-fir wood is of high quality, and this tree’s abundance in our western states has made it a prime timber resource.