Pseudotsuga
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| Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture |
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Pseudotsuga (Greek, false Tsuga). Syn., Abietia. Pinaceae. Ornamental woody plants grown for their regular pyramidal habit and evergreen foliage; also important timber trees. Tall evergreen trees with whorled branches: lvs. more or less 2-ranked, linear, flattened, green and grooved above, with a stomatiferous white band on each side of the prominent midrib beneath, with only 1 vascular bundle in the center: staminate fls. axillary, cylindric: cones pendent, ovate-oblong, maturing the same season; scales rounded, rigid, persistent; bracts longer than the scales, 2-lobed at the apex with the midrib produced into a rigid awn; each scale with 2 nearly triangular seeds with a wing shorter than the scale.— Four species. 2 in W. N. Amer., 1 in Japan, and 1 in W. China. Very similar in habit and foliage to Abies, from which Pseudotsuga without cones can be easily distinguished by the more slender and flexible lvs. and the elongated, ovate or ovate-oblong, acute, not resinous winter buds; from Tsuga it may be distinguished without cones by the smooth branches, not roughened by the persistent lf.-bases, and the longer lvs. The light red or yellow wood is hard and durable and much used for construction, for railway ties and for masts. The bark is sometimes used for tanning leather. The Douglas spruce, which is the only species well known in cultivation, is a tall tree of symmetrical habit with regularly whorled branches clothed with more or less two-ranked linear leaves, with orange staminate and purplish pistillate catkins and with pendulous medium-sized cones of somewhat bristly appearance on account of the protruding bracts, falling off as a whole. It is one of the tallest and most important forest and timber trees of western North America, and in its forms of the higher altitudes it is hardy as far north as Canada. When it finds a congenial home it is among the most desirable conifers for park planting and it grows rapidly, but where rapid growth is not desired, the var. glauca may be planted, which is of much slower growth and more compact habit. It thrives best in a porous sandy loam, and its cultivation does not differ from that of Picea, which see. Varieties may be grafted on the type. The Douglas spruce is a tree for the million. It would be difficult to overrate its beauty. As a forest tree it perhaps produces a greater crop of lumber to the acre than any other species. It probably grows faster than any other conifer. Indeed, the complaint is sometimes made that it grows too fast to make a compact lawn tree. It is desirable to have groups of Douglas spruce, because the foliage is so soft that single specimens are sometimes injured by high winds. Specimens planted on the prairies without protection from hot winds may sometimes have their buds injured by late spring frosts. It is, of course, a mistake to use this kind of spruce for a windbreak. The Douglas spruce is generally propagated by seeds. Seeds of conifers gathered on the Pacific slope are tender, while those gathered in Colorado produce hardy trees which endure both drought and cold. Unlike the firs, the Douglas spruce has fine fibrous roots like the Norway spruce and transplants as readily. The writer has transplanted many stocky young trees growing in the open to the nursery and has saved 90 per cent of them. They seemed to thrive as well as nursery-grown Norway spruces of the same size. The yield of seed from a wagon-load of cones is light, and it is somewhat difficult to grow seedlings. In some circumstances it will be cheaper in the end to procure young trees. The Douglas spruce is remarkable for its wide variation in form and color. The needles may be short or long, light green, dark green, or have a bluish or silvery cast. The deep blue and silvery foliage is characteristic of the deep gorges of high altitudes. CH
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Pests and diseases
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Species
- P. japonica, Beissn. (Tsuga japonica, Shirasawa). Tree, to 60 ft.:branches glabrous: lvs.shorter, emarginate, often curved: cones smaller, 1 3/4-2 in. long, with reflexed bracts. Japan. Has proved tenderer than P. taxifolia at the Arnold Arboretum.CH
- P. macrocarpa, Mayr (P. Douglasii var. macrocarpa, Engelm. Abies macrocarpa, Vasey). Tree, to 60 or 80 ft., with remote and usually pendulous branches: lvs. acute, bluish gray: cones 4-6 1/2in. long, with shorter bracts; seeds 1/2in. long. S.Calif. Seems not yet intro.; not hardy N.CH
- P, sinensis, Dode. Tall tree: branches pubescent: lvs. emarginate: cones about 2 in. long. S. W. China. Probably tender. CH
- P, Davidiana, Bertrand, P. Fortunei, Carr., and P. jesoensis, Bertrand=Keteleeria.CH
Gallery
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References
- Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963
External links
- w:Pseudotsuga. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
- Pseudotsuga QR Code (Size 50, 100, 200, 500)
