Douglas fir
Taxonomy

The common name honors David Douglas, a Scottish botanist and collector who first reported the extraordinary nature and potential of the species. The common name is misleading since it is not a true fir, i.e., not a member of the genus Abies. For this reason, the name is often written as Douglas-fir (a name also used for the genus Pseudotsuga as a whole).

The specific epithet menziesii is after Archibald Menzies, a Scottish physician and rival naturalist to David Douglas. Menzies first documented the tree on Vancouver Island in 1791. Colloquially, the species is also known simply as Doug fir or Douglas pine (although the latter common name may also refer to Pinus douglasiana). Other names for this tree have included Oregon pine, British Columbian pine, Puget Sound pine, Douglas spruce, false hemlock, red fir, or red pine (although again red pine may refer to a different tree species, Pinus resinosa, and red fir may refer to Abies magnifica).

One Coast Salish name for the tree, used in the Halkomelem language, is lá:yelhp. In the Lushootseed language, the tree is called čəbidac.
detectable_content:number_placeholders[2]