Douglas— The Man and the Tree 



Romantic Life of the Man After Whom the Douglas Fir Was Named. 



Douglas was the family name of Lonl 

 Selkirk, founder of the Red River Settle- 

 ment, and it was the name of other men 

 who have been prominent in Western Can- 

 ada, so that considerable doubt exists in 

 the popular mind as to the particular man 

 after whom the famous Douglas fir was 

 named. It is found that it was not named 

 after a founder, governor, or chief justice, 

 but after a remarkable man in a humbler 

 sphere of life. It should also be noted, 

 too, that while the name of Douglas will 

 always be associated with the common 

 name of this magnificent tree, yet the 

 scientific name fails to show any connec- 

 tion. It is called scientifically Pseinlotsuga, 

 literally, false hemlock. It is not false 

 hemlock, and it is a much finer tree than 

 any hemlock, and it is to be hoped that a 

 later generation of botanists will change 

 the name and give Douglas a place in it. 



Regarding Douglas, Dr. Charles S. Sar- 

 gent, Director of Arnold Arboretum at 

 Harvard University, has this to say of him 



in a footnote in his famous work ' Silva of 

 North America': — 



'David Douglas (1798-18.34), a Scotch 

 gardener sent by the Horticultural Society 

 of London to explore the forests of the 

 Northwest Territory, is, from his eoiL'Ci.ge, 

 energy and success in the presence of great 

 difficulties and dangers, and from his un- 

 timely and horrible death, a conspicuous 

 figure in the annals of American botanical 

 exploration. Douglis, who had been train- 

 ed by Sir William Hooker, and had made 

 a short botanical journey in eastern Am- 

 erica in 1823, was sent, in 1824, by way 

 of Cape Horn, to the Columbia River, 

 where he arrived in April, 1825. He spent 

 two years in Oregon, discovering some im- 

 portant trees, including Abies nobilis (noble 

 fir), Ahlcs amali'iUs (lowland fir), and 

 Pinus Lambertlaiia (sugar pine), the largest 

 of its race. 



'In March, 1827, Douglas started from 

 Fort Vancouver, on the Columbia River, 

 crossed the continent by Hudson 's Bay 



Among the Big Trees that Douglas Discovered on the Pacific Coast. 



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