Douglas-fir is one of the English common names for evergreen coniferous trees of the genus Pseudotsuga ( /ˌsjuːdoʊˈtsuːɡə/) in the family Pinaceae. Other common names include Douglas tree, and Oregon pine. The number of species has long been debated, but two in western North America and two to four in eastern Asia are commonly acknowledged. Nineteenth-century botanists had problems in classifying Douglas-firs, due to the species' similarity to various other conifers better known at the time; they have at times been classified in Pinus, Picea, Abies, Tsuga, and even Sequoia. Because of their distinctive cones, Douglas-firs were finally placed in the new genus Pseudotsuga (meaning "false hemlock") by the French botanist Carrière in 1867. The genus name has also been hyphenated as Pseudo-tsuga.

The common name Douglas-fir honors David Douglas, the Scottish botanist who first introduced P. menziesii into cultivation at Scone Palace in 1827. Douglas is known for introducing many North American native conifers to Europe. The hyphen in the name indicates that Douglas-firs are not true firs, not being members of the genus Abies. Most dictionaries don't recognize this distinction, however, including Merriam-Webster and Webster's New World College Dictionary.

Tony Kirkham (born 30 August 1957) is the head Arboretum at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, where he has worked since 1978.

Tony started his career as an apprentice at Tilhill Forestry Nursery in Frensham in 1974. In 1976 he attended Merrist Wood Agricultural College where he gained his NCH in Arboriculture and the RFS Certificate in Arb. He worked in Germany as a climber for Kusche und Frotscher based in Hamburg. In 1978 he started at Kew as a Diploma student for 3 years where he gained the Kew diploma at honours. In 1981 he was appointed manager of the North Arboretum from where he progressed to become Head of the Arboretum and Horticultural Services in 2001.

In 1985 he was a member of an expedition to Chile collecting seeds for the collections in the arboretum at Kew. Since the destruction of many of Kew's oldest trees in the Great Storm of 1987 he has spearheaded the restocking of the collection. In some instance using specimens collected on collecting trips to the far east. Countries visited include: China, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, the Russian far east and Sakhalin Island.