PSEUDOTSUGA 259 



PSEUDOTSUGA DOUGLASII, Carriere. DOUGLAS FIR. 



CO.MFKR.K. 

 (P. taxifolia, Britton ; Abies Douglasii, Lindley.') 



A tree 200 to 250 ft. high, with a trunk 8 to 12 ft. in diameter; main 

 branches horizontal, secondary ones pendulous; young shoots usually 

 more or less downy, with terminal buds that are ovate, pointed, to J in. 

 long, resinous; also occasional axillary buds along the shoot. Leaves 

 disposed either all round the shoot or (especially on weak shoots) in two 

 opposite ranks; crowded, linear, f to ij ins. long, -^ to T V in. wide; 

 rounded or blunt (never notched) at the apex, of various shades of green 

 (from grass green to more or less glaucous), and with several lines of 

 stomata each side the midrib beneath. Cones pendulous, shortly stalked, 

 averaging 2\ ins. long and i to ij ins. wide at the base, slenderly egg- 

 shaped, pointed, very distinct on account of the conspicuously obtruded 

 bracts. Male flowers axillary, composed of a cylindrical cluster of 

 orange-red stamens. 



Native of Western N. America from British Columbia to Mexico; 

 discovered by Menzies in 1793, and introduced by Douglas in 1827. As 

 might be expected from its extended habitat, it shows much variation. 

 In any large group of trees more or less distinct shades are discernible. 

 The most distinct of the varieties is 



Var. GLAUCA, often called "Colorado Douglas fir," which not only 

 differs in general appearance, but has its own habitat. The common and 

 finest type of Douglas fir occurs near the Pacific coast, in British Columbia 

 and Washington. The var. glauca is of inland and mountain distribution, 

 and is hardy in places where the other will not live. It differs chiefly in 

 being a smaller tree, and in the leaves being stouter and often very 

 glaucous, especially beneath. As an ornamental tree it is worth growing, 

 especially the bluest forms (it varies much in that respect), but for timber 

 it is by no means so promising as the coast type. 



Var. PENDULA has the pendulous character of the branchlets exception- 

 ally developed. On a tree at Bayfordbury they are 2 to 3 ft. long, and 

 of practically the same thickness throughout, scarcely branched. 



Var. STAIRII. Foliage of a pale greenish yellow. It originated at 

 Castle Kennedy, in Wigtownshire. The best tree I have seen is at 

 Ochtertyre, near Crieff, in Perthshire, about 40 ft. high. 



Var. TAXIFOLIA. Leaves longer and narrower than in the type; 

 branchlets stouter. Said to have been found wild in Oregon. 



In 1905 Messrs Koster & Sons of Boskoop sent to me some shoots 

 of a remarkable form raised in their nursery in Holland. Its leaves are 

 only -J to -J in. long, and are both pointed and rounded at the apex. 

 The raisers thought it might be a hybrid with Tsuga Sieboldii, which the 

 foliage resembled in shape and colour. It was subsequently named var. 

 FRETSII by Beissner. 



No foreign tree except the larch and Corsican pine has aroused so 

 much interest among foresters as the Douglas fir. In favourable situations 

 it grows with extreme rapidity, and has already reached in many places 



