dotsuga — from pseudo^ the Greek word for false, and tsuga^ the Japan- 

 ese word for hemlock. He adopted the specific name douglasii^ in 

 honor of David Douglas, which has since been almost universally 

 employed in Europe for this tree. Pseudotsuga taxifolia^ the 

 technical name now used in the United States, was proposed in 

 1899 by Britton, following the commonly accepted law of priority, 

 by which the specific name taxlfolia^ first published by Lambert 

 in 1803, has precedence over all subsequent specific names. 



In this country Douglas fir is popularly known by a great number 

 of different names. Some of the most common are red fir, yellow fir, 

 Oregon pine, red pine, red spruce, and Douglas spruce. The name 

 red fir is very extensively used, particularly on the Pacific coast, where 

 trees with red wood are known as " red fir " and those with yellow 

 wood as " yellow fir." The name " Douglas fir " was adopted by 

 the Forest Service, following a lumber census in which this name 

 was used more than all others combined. 



DISTINGUISHING CHARACTEIIISTICS. 



In many respects Douglas fir resembles the spruces, hemlocks, and 

 true firs or balsams. Like them, its leaves are arranged singly along 

 the twigs, usually comblike, and not in clusters, as they are in the 

 larches or tamaracks and in all the pines except single-leaf piiion. 

 In this respect also it differs from cedar, juniper, and cypress, which 

 have their leaves pressed together like scales. Though its leaf ar- 

 rangement might cause it to be confused with hemlock, balsam, or 

 spruce, it has other characteristics by which it may be distinguished 

 with certainty from each of these. 



IVliile its flattened leaves and the resin blisters of its young bark 

 cause it to resemble the balsam firs, it differs from them in its cones. 

 These are pendant and fall off entire, without breaking up into 

 scales, and can also be easily distinguished from those of most balsam 

 firs by their long, protruding, three-pointed bracts, which give them a 

 characteristic " feathered " appearance. Douglas fir is a prolific 

 cone producer, and cones can nearly always be found on its branches 

 or on the around under the tree. A further distinction lies in the 

 attachment of the leaves; in Douglas fir the leaves have a slight stalk, 

 while in the balsams they are sessile. The bark of mature trees and 

 the wood structure, as well as the shape of the tree, are also sure 

 means of distinction when once they have been compared. 



Douglas fir resembles the spruces in its pendant cones, but differs 

 from them in having the cones " feathered." It is also distinguished 

 unmistakably from the spruces by its flattened leaves, which will not 



[Cir. 150] 



