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Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii

(Douglas Fir)

Overview

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Interesting Facts

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Common Names

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Click on the language to view common names.

Common Names in English:

Douglas Fir, Coast Douglas-Fir, Coastal Douglas-Fir, Douglas-Fir

Common Names in French:

Douglas Vert

Description

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Family Pinaceae

Trees or rarely shrubs , evergreen or deciduous, monoecious. Branchlets often dimorphic : long branchlets with clearly spirally arranged , sometimes scalelike leaves; short branchlets often reduced to slow growing lateral spurs bearing dense clusters of leaves at apex. Leaves solitary or in bundles of (1 or) 2-5(-8) when basally subtended by a leaf sheath ; leaf blade linear or needlelike, not decurrent. Cones unisexual . Pollen cones solitary or clustered, with numerous spirally arranged microsporophylls ; microsporophyll with 2 microsporangia; pollen usually 2-saccate (nonsaccate in Cedrus, Larix, Pseudotsuga, and most species of Tsuga) . Seed cones erect or pendulous, maturing in 1st, 2nd, or occasionally 3rd year, dehiscent or occasionally indehiscent, with many spirally arranged ovulate scales and bracts; ovulate scales usually smaller than bracts at pollination, with 2 upright ovules adaxially, free or only basally adnate with bracts, maturing into seed scales. Seed scales appressed , woody or leathery, variable in shape and size, with 2 seeds adaxially, persistent or deciduous after cone maturity. Bracts free or adnate basally with seed scales, well developed or rudimentary , exserted or included . Seeds terminally winged (except in some species of Pinus) . Cotyledons 2-18. Germination hypogeal or epigeal. 2n = 24* (almost always) .

Ten or eleven genera and ca. 235 species: N hemisphere; ten genera (two endemic) and 108 species (43 endemic, 24 introduced ) in China.

Species of the Pinaceae are among the most valuable and commercially important plants in the world. Most species are trees, and are often excellent sources of lumber, wood products, and resins; many are cultivated for afforestation and as ornamentals .[1]

Genus Pseudotsuga

Trees conic, evergreen . Bark initially smooth , with resin blisters; in age reddish brown, corky, furrowed . Branches often pendulous, irregularly whorled ; short (spur) shoots absent; leaf scars transversely elliptic , slightly raised proximally but essentially flush with twig distally. Buds elongate , not resinous , apex acute. Leaves borne singly, persisting 6--8 years, alternate, short-stalked, flattened; resin canals 2, marginal . Cones borne on year-old twigs . Pollen cones axillary . Seed cones maturing first season , shed whole, deflexed or pendent, ellipsoid , ovoid , or cylindric , nearly sessile, lacking apophysis and umbo; scales persistent , apex rounded ; bracts ± exserted, apex 3-lobed, lobes with acute apices, central lobe narrow, longer than lateral lobes. Seeds winged ; cotyledons 6--12. x =12, 13.

Species 5: North America, 3 in e Asia.[2]

Physical Description

Species Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii

Trees to 90(--100) m ; trunk to 4.4m diam. Leaves yellowish green. Seed cones 6--10cm; bracts straight, appressed . 2 n =26. [source]

Habitat

Coniferous or mixed forests ; 0--1800m[3].

Taxonomy

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Synonyms

Abies californica hort. ex Steud. • Abies douglasii (Sabine Ex D. Don) Lindl. • Abies douglasii var. taxifolia (Lamb.) Loudon • Abies menziesii Mirb. • Abies mucronata Raf. • Abies taxifolia (Lamb.) Poir. • Abies taxifolia var. pendula Neumann • Abietia douglasii (Sabine Ex D. Don) A. H. Kent • Picea douglasii (Sabine Ex D. Don) Link • Pinus douglasii Sabine Ex D. Don • Pinus douglasii var. brevibracteata Antoine • Pinus douglasii var. taxifolia (Lamb.) Antoine • Pinus taxifolia Lamb. • Pseudotsuga douglasii (Sabine Ex D. Don) Carrière • Pseudotsuga douglasii var. laeta Schwer. • Pseudotsuga douglasii var. taxifolia (Lamb.) Antoine • Pseudotsuga douglasii var. viminalis Schwer. • Pseudotsuga douglasii var. viridis Schwer. • Pseudotsuga menziesii var. viridis (Schwer.) Franco • Pseudotsuga mucronata (Raf.) Sudw. Ex Holzinger • Pseudotsuga taxifolia (Lamb.) Britton • Pseudotsuga taxifolia mucronata (Raf.) Schwer. • Pseudotsuga taxifolia var. brevibracteata (Antoine) Schwerin • Pseudotsuga taxifolia var. pendula (Neumann) Sudw. • Pseudotsuga taxifolia var. viminalis (Schwer.) Schwer. • Pseudotsuga taxifolia var. viridis (Schwer.) Schwer. • Pseudotsuga taxifolia viridis (Schwer.) Asch. & Graebn. • Pseudotsuga vancouverensis Flous • Sequoia rafinesquei Carrière

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Comment: Conservation status: LC, Habit: Tree

Last scrutiny: 5-Jun-2008

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Pseudotsuga

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 12 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

P. japonica (Japanese Douglas Fir) · P. macrocarpa (Big-Cone Douglas-Fir) · P. menziesii (Blue Douglas Fir) · P. menziesii (Mirb.) Franco var. menziesii (Coast Douglas Fir) · P. menziesii var. glauca (Blue Douglas Fir) · P. menziesii var. menziesii (Douglas Fir) · P. menziesii 'Fastigiata' (Douglas-Fir) · P. menziesii 'Graceful Grace' (Weeping Douglas-Fir) · P. menziesii 'Hess Select Blue' (Douglas-Fir) · P. menziesii 'Pendula' (Weeping Douglas Fir) · P. menziesii 'Torquis' (Emerald Twister Contorted Douglas Fir) · P. sinensis (Chinese Douglas-Fir)

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Liguo Fu, Nan Li, Thomas S. Elias & Robert R. Mill "Pinaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 4 Page 11. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. Barney Lipscomb "Pseudotsuga". in Flora of North America Vol. 2. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  3. "Pseudotsuga menziesii". in Flora of North America Vol. 2. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
Last Revised: 2012-07-19