PINACEiE 479 



Var. variegata, Forbes. 



Foliage variegated, appearing as if frost-bitten. It is of no 

 decorative value. 



P. Douglasii is distinguished from its nearest allies by its 

 fragrant foliage and erect cone-bracts. 



The Douglas fir covers immense areas in the Pacific Coast 

 regions in S. British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon, from 

 the Cascade Mountains to the sea and the coast ranges of Cali- 

 fornia, extending south to the Santa Lucia Mountains. The 

 finest trees occur in Washington and British Columbia on well- 

 drained soil where there is an annual rainfall of 50-60 in. 



The wood is very variable in character. It is usually coarse- 

 grained, heavy and reddish, but is sometimes yellowish and fine- 

 grained. Heartwood and sapwood are well marked, the former 

 being red or brownish yellow, the latter yellow. Superficially 

 the wood resembles larch, but it differs in internal structure. 

 Resin ducts are present, and they are usually arranged in groups. 

 The timber is strong, durable, usually straight-grained and suit- 

 able for purposes where great strength is required, as well as for 

 minor work. It finishes with a good surface and takes paint and 

 polish well. Good Douglas fir timber is almost equal in quality 

 to good Pitch pine {Pinus palustris), but very careful grading is 

 necessary, as the timber may vary a good deal in quality even in a 

 single tree, and to ensure a regular market uniformity in quality 

 and strength between the units of a consignment are essential. 

 Figures contrasting the strength of the timber of Pinus palustris, 

 and the Douglas fir have been published in America, ^ and these 

 should be consulted by those who wish to use Douglas fir for 

 important builduigs. Amongst other uses the wood is employed 

 for general constructive work such as house, ship, and bridge 

 building, for piles, telegraph, and other poles, railway trucks and 

 carriages, flooring, street-paving, cooperage, water-tanks, water- 

 pipes, boxes, paper pulp, furniture, veneer, plywood, doors, and 

 window-sashes. It is often beautifully figured, and such wood 

 is valued for furniture and panelling. Large numbers of railway 

 sleepers made from heartwood are laid, untreated, in the United 

 States, where they are said to last from 6 to 9 years. Sleepers 

 made from sapwood are usually treated with a preservative. 

 Zinc chloride is used extensively for that purpose in America, but 

 it is found to be more difficult to inject either that, creosote, 

 or other preservatives into Douglas fir than into pine, and 

 penetration of the heartwood is shallow. The Douglas fir is at 

 the present time one of the most important coniferous woods, 

 and enormous quantities of timber are available. In British 

 Columbia alone the merchantable timber in 1918 was calculated 



1 Prop, and Uses of Douglas Fir : For. Ser. Bull. No. 48, U.S. Dept. of Agiic. 

 11911). 



