Tree · Pinaceae
Douglas-fir
Pseudotsuga menziesii · includes its varieties and subspecies
Douglas-fir is recorded as native to 12 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 219 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Douglas-fir at a glance
- Native in
- 219 counties, across 12 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a PLANTS minimum temperature −33°F
- Mature height
- 200 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Sun to part shade Medium water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 4a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −33°F; zone 4a winters bottom out at −30°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Douglas-fir is recorded as native to 12 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 219 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 219 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Arizona 10 counties
- California 36 counties
- Colorado 22 counties
- Idaho 22 counties
- Montana 2 counties
- Nevada 5 counties
- New Mexico 14 counties
- Oregon 30 counties
- Texas 1 county
- Utah 29 counties
- Washington 33 counties
- Wyoming 15 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Tree
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 200 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Single Stem
- Shape
- Conical
- Lifespan
- Long
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intermediate (sun to part shade)
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- Low
- Precipitation range
- 18 to 100 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse and medium
- pH range
- 5 to 7.5
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Low
- Salinity tolerance
- Low
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 26 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −33°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 130
- Fire tolerance
- Low
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Not recorded
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Mid Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- Yes
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Pinaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- PSME
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Pseudotsuga menziesii (PLANTS symbol PSME), including 1 variety or subspecies folded into the species.
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources