Douglas-fir — Pseudotsuga menziesi

Pseudotsuga means false hemlock; menziesi is in honor of Dr. Archibald Menzies, surgeon and naturalist. This is a tree which grows to enormous size in the Pacific Northwest. It can reach a height of 325 feet and a trunk diameter of 17feet.

The common name comes from David Douglas, the Scottish naturalist who introduced the tree to England in 1827. Old timers still know this one as Pseudotsuga taxifolia, the correct and more recent Latin name being more difficult to pronounce, let alone remember.

It is not a true fir and differs in several respects, although the flat needles and soft feel due to the blunt tips of the needles reminds one of the true fir. It is readily identified by the prominent, brown, long- pointed buds and drooping cones with three-pronged “fangs” called bracts, from beneath each scale of the cone.

Much like Colorado spruce, this native of most of the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevadas, will vary from green to striking blue. It is one of the most valued timber trees in the United States, attaining a height of 300 feet or more in the Pacific Northwest. Douglas-fir is not used too widely in residential plantings, probably because the Colorado spruce is better known and more readily available from nurseries. Douglas-fir also tends to become more scraggly than spruce with age.

Other Denver locations

Fine old examples can be seen in older areas of Denver including the north end of Washington Park. Mapy of these specimens are transplanted from the mountains

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas-fir