Pseudotsuga japonica

Japanese Douglas-fir is in the pine or Pinaceae family and is native to southern Japan in Wakayama and Nara Prefectures,the southern part of Nara Prefecture and the eastern part of Kochi Prefecture.

The tree can reach 30 m tall and 1.0 m in diameter.

• Needle-like leaves are 15–27 mm long, linear (in 1 plane) or spirally arranged, each needle tip having a slight notch, and 2 points (Abies needle tips are notched but 2 blunt tips). Needles bend slightly towards the tips of twigs.
• Species is monoecious; male pollen cones are ovoid, 4–5 mm long, clustered near the tips of last year’s growth, turning to pale yellow when ripe and dispersing yellow pollen in spring.
• Female seed cones, the smallest in the genus, are ovate, 4–5 cm long, 2–2.5 cm across, chocolate brown, with 15–20 thick woody scales with rounded tips, with 3-pronged bracts protruding like “snake’s tongues” up to 6 mm outside the scales. They resemble cones of Chinese Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga sinensis).
• Bark is dark brown, longitudinally fissured, more or less separating into plates, becoming greyish on very old trees. Winter buds pointed, spindle-shaped with shining brown scales.