He was born in Scotland more than two centuries ago.

He came to Oregon by default and only spent a few years here.

He lived just 35 years old and may have been a murder victim while in Hawaii.

But for the past quarter century, many Oregonians have been bolting part of his legacy to the bumpers of thousands of cars and trucks. It's that tree in the middle of your basic Oregon license plate: The Douglas fir.

David Douglas, born June 25, 1799, near Perth, Scotland, and first set foot in the Portland area 190 years ago Tuesday when he disembarked from the "William and Ann," a ship belonging to the Hudson's Bay Company, at Fort Vancouver.

He wasn't really supposed to be here, at least not originally. According to the Oregon Encyclopedia, the Royal Horticultural Society had wanted to send Douglas, one of its up-and-comers, to China.

The Douglas-fir, which has appeared on the basic Oregon license plate for about a quarter of a century, is named for David Douglas, who arrived at Fort Vancouver 190 years ago Tuesday.

But that plan fell through and Douglas got reassigned to western North America, which at the time pretty much meant Oregon Country.

Once here, however, Douglas got busy. A botanist by training, he immediately began recording, naming and classifying all manner of plants and animals that he found in the region and for the next few years, began shipping samples of his discoveries to the Royal Botanic Gardens in London.

During his time in the region, he explored much of western Oregon, the Northern Rockies and northern California.

Among his finds in addition to the Douglas-fir were the Sitka Spruce, the Western White Pine, the Ponderosa Pine, the Douglas squirrel, the pygmy short-horned lizard and about 80 other species of plants and animals. David Douglas High School is named for him, as is David Douglas Park in Vancouver.

Examples of many of the plants he discovered were sent to Great Britain, where many thrive today.

Douglas met his demise, however, in Hawaii. He was doing research on the big island of Hawaii when he apparently fell into a pit intended to trap cattle and was gored to death by a bullock, which had fallen in earlier.

Apparently? There were also rumors that he was murdered by an ex-convict named Ned Gurney, who found out that Douglas was carrying a large sum of cash. But Gurney eventually disappeared and there was not enough proof for anyone to be charged

Terry Richard of The Oregonian wrote about his death, and the plaque placed in his honor in Hawaii, last October.

A documentary about his life - "Finding David Douglas" - premiered in 2009 and is available for purchase online.

-- John Killen

503-221-8538; @johnkillen

Sources: Oregon Encyclopedia, The Oregonian, Wikipedia, coffeetimes.com