| Douglas Fir |
| The Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) is a native of the West from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Coast and from British Columbia to Mexico. It is Oregon's state tree. It was named after explorer-botanist David Douglas, who found the species in Oregon. Neither a Fir nor a Spruce, Douglas Fir is more kin to Hemlock (Pseudotsuga means "false hemlock"). It is a magnificent tree usually growing in moist shady areas, but it is also found on rocky open slopes. In the Four Corners it is a giant at 180 feet and five feet in diameter, but in Pacific coastal areas it reaches well over 250 feet tall and 8 feet in diameter. It is common in cool mesa coves, foothills, lower mountains, and even subalpine of the Four Corners. Douglas Fir was formerly known as "Douglas Spruce", and thus came the name for the now famous "Spruce Tree House" of Mesa Verde National Park. In the late 1800s the Wetherill brothers found a long forgotten complex of buildings and shinnied down a "Douglas Spruce" to reach them. Douglas Fir needles are flat, soft, shiny green, fragrant, and 1 to 1 ½ inches long. New needles are light blue-green to light green. Cones are distinctive, having bracts projecting from the cone like little mouse tails. Douglas Fir bark is dark gray and irregularly furrowed. |
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