Pseudotsuga macrocarpa
| Pseudotsuga macrocarpa | |
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| Bigcone Douglas-fir at Mount San Antonio | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Division: | Pinophyta |
| Class: | Pinopsida |
| Order: | Pinales |
| Family: | Pinaceae |
| Genus: | Pseudotsuga |
| Species: | P. macrocarpa |
| Binomial name | |
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Pseudotsuga macrocarpa (Vasey) Mayr |
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| Natural range | |
Pseudotsuga macrocarpa, commonly called the bigcone spruce or bigcone Douglas-fir, is an evergreen conifer native to the mountains of southern California, It is notable for having the largest (by far) cones in its Pseudotsuga genus, hence the name.
The tree occurs from the San Rafael Mountains in central Santa Barbara County and the Tehachapi Mountains of southwestern Kern County, south through the Transverse Ranges, to the Cuyamaca Mountains in San Diego County. The tree is shade-tolerant and prefers to grow on slopes.
Pseudotsuga macrocarpa is a Douglas-fir. The name "bigcone spruce", though confusing as it is not a spruce species, is often still used, and occurs in place names.
Pseudotsuga macrocarpa typically grows from 15–30 m (49–98 ft) in height and 0.5–1.5 m (1.6–4.9 ft) in trunk diameter. The growth form is straight, with a conical crown from 12–30 m (39–98 ft) broad, and a strong and spreading root system. The bark is deeply ridged, composed of thin, woodlike plates separating heavy layers of cork; bark of trees over 1 m (3.3 ft) in diameter is from 15–20 cm (5.9–7.9 in) thick. The main branches are long and spreading with pendulous side shoots.
The leaves are needle-like, 2.5–5 cm (0.98–1.97 in) long, are shed when about 5 years old. The female cones are from 10–18 cm (3.9–7.1 in) long, larger and with thicker scales than those of other douglas-firs, and with exserted tridentine bracts. The seeds are large and heavy, 10 mm long and 8 mm broad, with a short rounded wing 12 mm long; they may be bird or mammal dispersed as the wing is too small to be effective for wind dispersal. Trees start producing seeds at about 20 years of age.
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Wikipedia