A magnificent forest tree - some specimens reach 40m in its native coastal mountain forests of Oregon and Washington State, where it occurs at altitudes above 1525m. As with many conifers from the Pacific seaboard of America, it was introduced by David Douglas (1799-1834). The blue foliage contrasts beautifully with silvery bark, and the cones, borne even on quite young trees, are large. It prefers moist conditions for good growth, although, according to Douglas, it occurs on thin dry soils. Douglas remarked that its elegance gave it pre-eminence in its native forests ...  “the trees are straight, one hundred and seventy feet high, two to six feet in diameter, with a white polished bark”.