Plant Database

Search for native plants by scientific name, common name or family. If you are not sure what you are looking for, try the Combination Search or our Recommended Species lists.

Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii

Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco var. menziesii

Coast Douglas Fir

Pinaceae (Pine Family)

Synonym(s): Pseudotsuga mucronata, Pseudotsuga taxifolia

USDA Symbol: PSMEM

USDA Native Status: L48 (N), CAN (N)

The wood was used as fuel and to make items such as spear handles, harpoon shafts, spoons, dip-net poles, harpoon barbs, fire tongs, salmon weirs, caskets and halibut and cod hooks by coastal groups. The Nuxalk, Quinault and others made torches from the pitchy heartwood. (Pojar and MacKinnon, 2004)
Medicinal: The pitch was used to make a medicinal salve for wounds and skin irritantions. (Pojar and MacKinnon, 2004)
Become established after fires on wetter sites, thus many old-growth forests contain giant Douglas fir that represent a legacy of fires that swept the landscape many centuries ago.
Squirrels, chipmunks, mice, shrews, winter wren and crossbills eat the seeds.
Bears scrape off the bark and eat the sap layer beneath.
Deer browse on young trees.

Butterflies and Moths of North America (BAMONA)

Pine White (Neophasia menapia) Larval Host Learn more at BAMONA

Columbia silkmoth (Hyalophora columbia) Larval Host Learn more at BAMONA