Search Fact Sheets Virginia Tech Dendrology

Chinese Douglas-fir Pinaceae Pseudotsuga sinensis Dode Listen to the Latin Print a QR link to this factsheet symbol:
Leaf: Evergreen flat needles, to 1 inch long, irregularly two ranked, generally blunt tipped, attached singly and lack a woody peg or suction cup attachment, blue-green to green above, bluish bands below.
Flower: Species is monoecious; males oblong, red turning to pale yellow, appearing near branch tips in clusters; females reddish with long bracts, appearing near branch tips in spring.
Fruit: Very distinctive dark brown cone, 4 inches long by 2 1/2 wide, round scales with obvious three-lobed bracts protruding beyond cone scales, maturing in late summer.
Twig: Slender, reddish brown, may or not be gray pubescent, with long sharp, pointed, reddish brown buds.
Bark: Smooth gray-brown when young, becoming darker, reddish brown and deeply furrowed with rounded ridges.
Form: Large sized tree reaching up to 165 feet tall; crowns more spreading than North American Douglas-firs.
Looks like: Douglas-fir - bigcone Douglas-fir - bristlecone fir - western hemlock

leaf
fruit
twig
bark
form1
map

Additional Range Information: Pseudotsuga sinensis is planted in the USDA hardiness zones shown above and is not known to widely escape cultivaton. Download the full-size PDF map.
External Links:
All material 2021 Virginia Tech Dept. of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation; Photos and text by: John Seiler, Edward Jensen, Alex Niemiera, and John Peterson; Silvics reprinted from Ag Handbook 654; range map source information