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False Hemlock

The Pseudotsuga Macrocarpa is commonly known as Bigcone Douglas-fir, Bigcone Douglas-spruce, Bigcone Spruce, Desert Fir, False Hemlock, as well as Hemlock

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Growing Regions

Bigcone Douglas-fir occurs in mountains of southern California. It is distributed from the Santa Ynez Mountains in eastern Santa Barbara County and the Tehachipi Mountains of southwestern Kern County south to Julian, San Diego County [3,18]. It is cultivated in Hawaii [33].

     

General Information

The currently accepted scientific name of bigcone Douglas-fir is Pseudotsuga macrocarpa (Vasey) Mayr [10,24]. There are no subspecies, varieties, or forms [3,10]. Bigcone Douglas-fir and Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) do not naturally hybridize because their ranges do not overlap. They readily hybridize, however, under laboratory conditions (see Management Considerations) [6].

Low elevation (<3,500 feet [1,067 m]) bigcone Douglas-fir forest
communities are disjunct, surrounded by extensive areas of chamise
(Adenostoma fasciculatum) chaparral or coastal sage scrub [4,22,13].  In
canyon bottoms, bigcone Douglas-fir communities intergrade with riparian
forest [11].  From 3,500 to 4,500 feet (1,067-1,372 m), stands are more
widespread.  Canyon live oak (Quercus chrysolepis) is sympatric with
bigcone Douglas-fir at these elevations.  Together they form a
two-layered forest consisting of a subcanopy of canyon live oak and an
overstory of bigcone Douglas-fir [14,21].  Coulter pine (Pinus coulteri)
replaces bigcone Douglas-fir on more xeric sites at these elevations
[1].  From 4,500 to 5,500 feet (1,372-1,676 m), canyon live oak thins
and bigcone Douglas-fir becomes increasingly abundant.  At higher
elevations, bigcone Douglas-fir decreases in importance and the bigcone
Douglas-fir forest type is gradually replaced by mixed evergreen forest.
Codominant species at higher elevations not listed as SAF Cover Types
include incense-cedar (Libocedrus decurrens), California white fir
(Abies concolor var. lowiana), singleleaf pinyon (Pinus monophylla),
sugar pine (P. lambertiana), and interior live oak (Q. wislizenii)
[18,32].

Publications listing bigcone Douglas-fir as a dominant or indicator
species are as follows:

Terrestrial natural communities of California [11].
Vegetation types of the San Bernadino Mountains [14].
Vegetaion of the San Bernadino Mountains [21].
A vegetation classification system applied to southern California [26].
An introduction to the plant communities of the Santa Ana and San
  Jacinto Mountains [32].

Much of the information presented here is attributed to:
Howard, Janet L. 1992. Pseudotsuga macrocarpa. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online]. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available at USDA Forest Service.

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