Pseudotsuga
menziesii
Douglas-fir
(Cajón Bonito)
The Cajón Bonito, also known as the Douglas-fir is a cone shaped tree that grows about 30 m high; trunk 1.5 m in diameter. Twigs are usually alternately branched. Leaves are singular, 1.5 to 4 cm long, linear, flattened and narrower at the base. The upper surface of the leaf is grooved. The reddish brown cones mature in one year to a length of 3.5 to 7.2 cm and are in the shape of an elongated oval. When they fall off the tree the scales do not break apart. The pine cone scales of the Cajón Bonito are unique in that each one has a protruding three pronged bracket. The seeds inside the cone are about 6 mm long, are flattened on one side, and have a broad wing of about 10 mm. Cajón Bonito pollinates from April to May and is found growing in the higher elevations of the northeastern Sonora. (The Trees of Sonora, Mexico; by Richard Stephen Felger; Oxford University Press, New York: 2001.)