Wonderful Outdoor World Colorado
No Child Left Inside!
Douglas-Fir
(Pseaudotsuga menziesii, Pine family: Pinaceae)
Brief Description: Needles grow up to 1" long and are flat with a round tip ("firs are flat and friendly"). Cones grow up to 4 1/2" long and have 3-lobed bracts. (The bracts look like spikes coming out of each scale).
Useful or Interesting Facts: This tree is not a true fir, which is why the common name is hyphenated. This is the most common Christmas tree in the U.S. The wood is exceptionally strong and is often used in construction. The needles and bark can be steeped to make tea, which may help relieve colds and stomach pain.
Ponderosa Pine
(Pinus Poderosa, Pine family: Pinacea)
Description: Red, puzzle-like bark. Needles 5-10" long, and in bundles of 2 or 3.
Interesting Facts: The sap may smell like butterschotch or vanilla. The pollen and the inner bark are very nutritional, but unappetizing. The needles, however, have been reported to poison cattle. Pine Resin is an effective antibiotic and can be placed in wounds.
Rocky Mountain Juniper (Juniperus scopulorum,Cypress family: Cupressaceae
Description : Needles are scaly and often waxy. The fruit is blue, powdery, berry-like cone.
Interesting Facts: The fruit can be used to make Gin, which is supposedly one of the hardest liquors.
Rocky Mountain Maple (Acer glabrum, Maple family: Acerare)
Description: Twigs are reddish - brown. Leaves have 3 lobes and are sharply toothed. Flowers are green, up to 1" wide, and have 10 petals and 10 stamens. The fruit is winged and looks like a "V".
Interesting facts: The fruit is often reffered to as a "helicopter" because its shape allows it to soar in the air like helictopter blades.
The Aspen
(Populous tremuloides. Willow family: Salicaceae)
Description: The bark is smooth and white. Leaves are rounded and finely toothed. Leaf petiole is flat. allowing leaves to twist and "dance" in the wind. Leaves turn gold in the fall. trees usually grow in groves.
Interesting Facts: The bark has been used by various Native Americans tribes as a cough medicine and the sap as an energy drink. Today, pharmacologists believe to bark might have some properties similar to those of aspirin.
River Birch (Betula occidentalis, Birch family: Betulaceae)
Description: Grows up to 20' tall and has smooth, reddish bark. Leaves are glossy, oval-shaped, and toothed. The tree may have catkins (strings of seed) up to 2" long.
Interesting Facts: The sap is sometimes used as a tea or to soothe irritated skin. 
