During her trip to Vancouver Island in 2022, Ivonne was impressed by the big trees. Old-growth forests are full of them. You can enjoy them in gardens, too. What are the main characteristics of and differences between these forest giants on Vancouver Island?
Douglas fir
- Pseudotsuga menziesii (var. menziesii = coast Douglas fir), pine family
- hight: up to 70 (occasionally to 90) m tall
- bark: very thick, rough, deeply grooved and a bit corky when mature, dark brown (see photo above)
- female cones: scales with 3-lobed tip, the centre one the longest; yellowish- to purplish-green when young, turning reddish-brown, soon deciduous; 6-10 cm long in var. menziesii
- needles: a bit pointy, straight and mostly of the same length, in a spiral pattern around the twig
- named after plant hunter David Douglas and botanist Archibald Menzies
Links
- Coast Douglas fir in Electronic atlas of the flora of British Columbia
- Douglas fir in Flora around Nanaimo
Western red cedar
- Thuja plicata, cypress family, provincial tree of British Columbia
- hight: up to 60 m tall
- bark: ridged and fissured, fibrous, ‘stripey’, readily tearing off in long thin strips
- cones: green when immature; brown, egg-shaped and 8-10 mm long when mature
- leaves: distinctive scale-like, somewhat overlapping, in opposite pairs, not needles
- also called ‘tree of life, as ‘this cedar has a central place in First Nations culture: weaving, construction, ceremonial, medicinal
Links
- Western red cedar in Electronic atlas of the flora of British Columbia
- Western red cedar in Flora around Nanaimo
