#classifying plants by physical traits alone is not a great plan lol

[newtsnaturethings]

Mixed madrone and Douglas fir forest. Madrones are midsized evergreen trees in the Ericaceae (heather) family. They typically grow in arid climates with rocky dry soils. They have lovely orange bark that naturally sheds from the trunk when the tree reaches maturity (also the trunk underneath is INCREDIBLY smooth and pleasant to touch). The leaves are thick and waxy and spirally arranged on the branches. Madrones typically grow in areas that burn regularly as part of the ecology. Though the bark is very thin and not good for fire defense, madrone saplings will quickly resprout after the fire has passed (trees adapted for fire regimes are so cool like…they really said “tis only a flesh wound” and bounce back).

Douglas firs are absolutely majestic S tier conifers that can get pretty flippin huge but my absolute favorite thing about them is that they aren’t actually fir trees. Like at all. Usually the key identification factor for a fir tree (Abies) is their needles and cones; the needles are soft and attach individually to the branches (instead of in clusters) and the cones grow upwards. Like toward the sky. Doug firs, on the other hand, have sharp needles and the cones grow down (and also have sharp lil spikes on em)

The real kicker for me is that the Latin genus for Doug firs, Pseudo-tsuga, means “false hemlock” (the genus Tsuga is the hemlocks) which ???? What?? Anyways yeah trees are cool but their classification and naming is uh…sometimes very confusing lol.

#madrone #douglas fir #trees #forest #forestry #newts thoughts #newts photography #classifying plants by physical traits alone is not a great plan lol