The world champion Douglas-fir in height is found in Coos County, Oregon. But what if your interest lies in smaller trees? For example, the tallest vine maple (Acer circinatum) in the country is 46’ high and found in Clatsop County, Oregon. This detail, along with many, many others can be found in “Oregon: Big Tree & Shrub Measurements” by Jack Black.
At first glance, this book may seem like a curiosity, one person’s obsession with finding, measuring, and photographing (typically with a convenient human standing nearby for scale) the largest and tallest of the Oregon flora. However, the charts and especially the photographs gave me strong admiration of the diversity of woody plants in both wild and managed settings.
The roughly 200 species considered are almost evenly divided between natives and introduced species. Short vignettes give the back story for some of the more remarkable examples. Although Black compiled and published this book, his endnotes document the work of many individuals and organizations in finding, measuring, and recording these special trees. It represents a real labor of love by all involved. A new, larger edition was published in 2021.
Excerpted from the Spring 2021 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin
There are many rare and unusual trees and shrubs in the Washington Park Arboretum. Standing aside (and sometimes out-competing) these wonderful exotics is the native matrix of trees, especially tall conifers. Perhaps the most iconic of these is the Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii). “Douglas Fir: The Story of the West’s Most Remarkable Tree” is a comprehensive new book by Stephen Arno and Carl Fiedler about this tree native from northern British Columbia to the high mountains of Mexico.
There two distinct varieties of the Douglas-fir. The coastal tree (P. m. var. menziesii) that we are familiar with in Seattle and is found along the coast south to the California Bay Area. The inland variety (P. m. var. glauca) has an even wider distribution east of the coastal ranges and into the Rocky Mountains. The ecological success of both varieties highlights their adaptability, supported by an extra set of chromosomes when compared to most of the other West Coast conifers. In simple terms, this means the “Douglas-fir is nature’s all-purpose tree.”
This malleable nature has caused more than its share of nomenclature issues. Is it a fir? A pine? A spruce? The answer is none of the above. The genera Pseudotsuga translates as “false hemlock” – a rather unfortunate compromise. Even the common name has varied, although the Seventh International Botanical Congress in 1950 settled on “Douglas-fir” and that form is used throughout this book (although the hyphen is oddly missing from the book’s title).
The coast Douglas-fir is one of the tallest plant species in the world. Its loftiest example (at 327’) currently ranks number three behind the height champions of the Coast Redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens at 380.3’) and Eucalyptus regnans (329.7’) of southeastern Australia. An especially engaging part of this book discusses the credible possibility of historical Douglas-fir specimens, taken down for lumber one hundred or more years ago, that likely exceeded 400’ in height.
While Euro-Americans quickly recognized the value of Douglas-fir wood for building, the indigenous people throughout the tree’s vast range were the first to use its timber this way, but they had many other uses, too. All parts of the tree are valuable and were used for preserving and flavoring food, for medicine, for crafting tools, in sacred ceremonies, and most importantly, providing heat. “Both varieties of Douglas-fir historically fulfilled myriad roles for native peoples and were the overwhelming choice for one critical daily need: fuel for their fires.”
Excerpted from the Spring 2021 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin
![[Big Lonely Doug] cover](https://depts.washington.edu/hortlib/graphix/BigLonelyDougreview.jpg)
Harley Rustad’s Big Lonely Doug is the story of one superlative tree spared from the saw by a forester who recognized its value. Later this tree was named Big Lonely Doug by members of the Ancient Forest Alliance, who hoped to use the 1,000-year-old Douglas fir to inspire a new initiative to preserve Vancouver Island’s remaining old growth forests.
Rustad covers the history of British colonial exploration, including the Scottish botanist named David Douglas. He also compares the development of timber extraction as the foundation of British Columbia’s economy and with the more recent growth of environmental activism trying to save isolated patches of virgin forest.
The author intends to give a complete picture of a complex situation without sentimentality. The reader understands from the start that Rustad sympathizes with the activists and treasures the ancient forests and giant trees. However, his treatment of the loggers is respectful. He represents the loggers’ sensibility as intimately knowledgeable about forests, and he accepts that trees are a resource to be harvested. Cutting down the forests provides jobs and supports communities. The corporate owners don’t get off so easily when Rustad reveals how local sawmills closed down while raw logs got exported and processed in Asia.
Reading about the virgin forests with giant, ancient Western red cedars, Douglas firs and Sitka spruce (Thuja plicata, Pseudotsuga menziesii and Picea sitchensis) made me nostalgic for the times in college when I hiked among equally giant and awe-inspiring redwoods on the Northern California coast. I’ve never understood why all the rare fragments of remaining old growth were not cherished by everyone and preserved in national parks. We know how to log sustainably without leaving a clear-cut wasteland behind, so why are clearcuts permitted?
Celebrity trees like Big Lonely Doug, saved by a logger, capture the public’s imagination. Activists learned over the decades how to harness that celebrity to generate support for increasingly protective logging regulations. And now ecotourism’s beneficial economic impact acts as a counterargument against the reasoning that logging equals jobs so logging must continue unchecked. Harley Rustad documents the story of one remarkable specimen while leaving readers feeling hopeful that ancient forests may finally gain some official appreciation and protection.
Published in the Leaflet for Scholars, July 2020, Vol. 7, Issue &.
There seems to be a new fad of local foragers making tea from the needles of Douglas fir and Grand fir. I am guessing there are Native American origins to this practice. How safe is it, especially in an urban environment? Are there supposed to be benefits to drinking this kind of infusion?
There is a deep tradition of ethnobotanical uses of various parts of both Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) and Grand fir (Abies grandis). Nancy Turner’s book, Thompson Ethnobotany: Knowledge and Usage of Plants by the Thompson Indians of British Columbia (Royal British Columbia Museum, 1990) says that “a beverage tea was made by boiling Douglas-fir twigs with their needles. This tea was said to have tonic and diuretic properties.”
Turner says there is a great deal of confusion surrounding both the English common names and Thompson Indian names for various fir species. This makes it difficult to know which species were intended for which uses. An infusion made from the boughs of a species that might be Grand fir (Abies grandis) “could be drunk for any illness.” In Ethnobotany of Western Washington (University of Washington Press, 1973), author Erna Gunther notes both distinctions and confusions between Abies grandis and Pseudotsuga menziesii: according to the Green River informant she consulted, tribe members boiled Grand fir needles as a tea to treat colds, but a Swinomish informant believed Grand fir and Douglas fir to be the same species.
Douglas fir and Grand fir are not mentioned in Toxic Plants of North America (George Burrows and Ronald Tyrl, Wiley-Blackwell, 2013), but a plant’s absence from a list of toxic plants does not mean that it is risk-free. Common sense says it would be best not to gather needles from urban trees that are not your own, since there is no way of knowing whether those trees might have been sprayed with pesticides, or exposed to air pollutants.
According to Stephen Facciola’s Cornucopia II: A Source Book of Edible Plants (Kampong Publications, 1998), tea made from young foliage and twigs of Pseudotsuga menziesii is both refreshing and high in vitamin C. He says that the young branch tips of various species of Abies, including A. grandis, are used as a tea substitute.
I could not find reliable information about the recommended quantities of needles to water, ideal length of boiling time, or chemical properties of needles used for tea. Elise Krohn, author of Wild Rose and Western Red Cedar: The Gifts of the Northwest Plants (self-published in 2007) has information on her Wild Foods and Medicines blog about “making evergreen tree tip tea.” My advice would be to proceed with caution and consult a medical professional in case a coniferous tisane might have potential interactions with other substances. (Even a popular beverage like Earl Grey tea can be problematic due to the Citrus-derived bergamottin which interacts with some medications).
We have some Douglas Fir trees along a ravine. There is some construction nearby, and one of the trees is looking like it has been affected. It’s losing lower branches and has much less new growth than its neighbors that are farther away from the construction. Is there anything we can do to save it?
It certainly could be compaction, though it is not possible to diagnose from a distance. However, symptoms of soil compaction damage include drooping branches, wilted or scorched foliage, and conifers dropping inner needles. This came from the Minnesota DNR’s web site, which also discusses treatment. Here is an excerpt:
“Compaction can be partially alleviated by drilling a series of two inch diameter holes to a depth of 12 to 18 inches. Begin three feet from the trunk and continue drilling holes at two foot intervals in concentric rings around the tree and continue to at least the dripline. Each hole may be refilled with sand, peat moss or mulch. Don’t recap the hole with a sod plug. There are other alternatives, such as soil injections of air or pressurized water, available from some professional tree care services.”
A WSU extension formerly available online (“Construction Damage to Trees”) explains that careful watering and fertilizing can help damaged trees, though it is best to help them before damage is noticed.
Another good resource is the Colorado State University Extension’s “Protecting Trees during Construction.”
Finally it would be a good idea to consult the Plant Amnesty referral service at 206-783-9813, or search for an arborist at the PNW International Society for Arboriculture site under “Hire an Arborist.”
I have some large second growth Douglas firs in my yard that were topped about 20 years ago. The last several years, almost all of them have developed pitch oozing down their sides from up high. What might be wrong with my trees, and what do you think I should do now?
Disease and pest diagnosis is impossible without actually examining the affected plant. However, based on the symptom of oozing pitch you described, these Pseudotsuga menziesii (Douglas fir) could be suffering from one (or more) of the following pests:
Fir Beetle
Pitch Moth
Twig Weevil
For a proper diagnosis you could hire an arborist. The Pacific Northwest Chapter of the International Society for Arboriculture has a directory of certified arborists.
You could also take many photos and a plant sample to a Master Gardener clinic. This is a free service run by volunteers trained by WSU faculty. Clinic locations and times can be found at this website (Plant Clinic Schedule).
Don’t despair if verticillium wilt lives in your garden’s soil because there are many resistant plants. A few verticillium-resistant trees include Apple and Crabapple, Mountain Ash, Ginkgo, Sweet Gum, Katsura, Douglas Fir, Arborvitae and White Oak. A long list of susceptible and resistant trees, shrubs, perennials and vegetables.
There is some evidence that broccoli (chopped up new shoots worked into the soil) can act as a soil fumigant, if added to the soil before planting. Studies were done by Krishna Subbarao at University of California, Davis, and showed reduced incidence of wilt in cauliflower crops where broccoli had been planted and its residue added to the soil.