Scientific Name: Pseudotsuga menziesii
Family: Pinaceae (pine family)

Overview: Douglas-firs are arguably now the most popular and widely sold Christmas trees in North America due to their soft needles, attractive foliage and good smell. It also is priced slightly below the Fraser fir, which is its competitor for the title of "Most Popular Christmas Tree." Often referred to simply as the "Doug-fir" by people in the know.

Fun Facts: The state tree of Oregon, where it is known as the Oregon-pine. The tallest tree in North America behind the redwoods. The most important timber species in North America.

Etymology: The common name commemorates Scottish botanist David Douglas (1799-1834), who first introduced this species into cultivation in Europe in 1826. Although not truly a fir (hence the hyphenation), "fir" in the name probably refers to this species's soft needles, which true firs also have. Other common names of Oregon-pine and Douglas-spruce are less common and are also clearly misnomers since this species is neither a pine nor a spruce. The genus name Pseudotsuga literally means "false hemlock" and alludes to a superficial resemblance of the needle bases of this species to those of another group of conifers, the hemlocks of the genus Tsuga. The specific epithet menziesii commemorates the Scottish surgeon and botanist Archibald Menzies (1754-1842) who was first to document the tree to science in 1791 (on Vancouver Island).