368 NEW ENGLAND TREES IN WINTER. 



DOUGLAS FIR 

 Red Fir, Douglas Spruce. 



Pseudotsuga taxifolia (Lam.) Britton. 

 P. mucronata (Raf.) Sudw. ; P. Douglasii (Lindl.) Carr. 



HABIT A tree under favorable conditions in the west reaching a 

 height of 200 ft. or over and a trunk diameter up to 10 or 12 ft.; 

 branches horizontal with more or less pendulous branchlets forming a 

 pyramidal head. A number of varieties are in cultivation varying 

 somewhat in habit and color of foliage. 



BARK On young trunks dark gray, smooth, with few resin blisters, 

 soon becoming roughened, with reddish-brown scales and eventually 

 deeply ridged. 



TWIGS Reddish to yellowish-brown, more or less downy, becoming 

 with age smooth and dark grayish-brown. Photograph of twig is about 

 % natural size. 



LEAVES Scattered, sometimes appearing somewhat 2-ranked but 

 less distinctly so than leaves of the Balsam Fir, dark green above, pale 

 below with grayish lines of minute dots, flattened, generally blunt, 

 % inch or more long, slightly narrowed at base but not distinctly 

 stalked, arising at about a right angle to the twig and leaving in falling 

 a round scar slightly raised at the base, and slightly fragrant and aro- 

 matic when crushed. MICROSCOPIC SECTION showing a single fibro- 

 vascular bundle, 2 resin-ducts next to the epidermis, strengthening cells 

 beneath the epidermis and generally around the resin-ducts, giant 

 thick walled irregularly lobed cells frequently appearing in cross- 

 sections of the leaf on either side of the bundle, stomata on the 

 under side. 



BUDS Comparatively large, narrowly ovate to conical, sharp pointed, 

 reddish- brown, 7-12 mm. long, loosely clustered at tips of twigs; bud- 

 scales not resinous-coated, often with reflexed tips. 



FRUIT A cone maturing in one season, pendant, stalked, 2-4 M$ inches 

 long. SCALES persistent, rounded on edges with conspicuous pro- 

 truding bracts which are long-pointed and laterally winged like the 

 feathering on an arrow. 



COMPARISONS The Douglas Fir resembles the Balsam Fir but 

 may be readily distinguished by its large dark brown buds, free from 

 resin, by the slightly projecting leaf-scars and especially by the 

 cones with persistent scales and lobed bracts. Further a thin knife 

 section held toward the light and looked at with a hand-lens shows the 

 two resin-ducts on the edge of the leaf while those of the Balsam Fir 

 are located between the edge and the bundle. 



DISTRIBUTION Throughout -the Rocky mountain system south of 

 latitudes 55 degrees north to the Pacific coast, forming extensive for- 

 ests. Planted for ornament in the eastern states where, however, only 

 plants grown from seed obtained from the interior of the continent 

 are successful. 



WOOD Light red or yellow, with nearly white sapwood, very 

 variable in density, quality and in the thickness of the sapwood; 

 largely manufactured into lumber in British Columbia, western Wash- 

 ington and Oregon and used for all kinds of construction, fuel, railroad 

 ties and piles. The bark is sometimes used in tanning leather. 



