conifer

/koh"neuh feuhr, kon"euh-/, n.

1. any of numerous, chiefly evergreen trees or shrubs of the class Coniferinae (or group Coniferales), including the pine, fir, spruce, and other cone-bearing trees and shrubs, and also the yews and their allies that bear drupelike seeds.

2. a plant producing naked seeds in cones, or single naked seeds as in yews, but with pollen always borne in cones.

[1350-1400; ME conefere < L conifer coniferous, equiv. to con(us) CONE + -I- + -fer -FER]

* * *

Any member of the order Coniferales, woody plants that bear their seeds and pollen on separate, cone-shaped structures.

They constitute the largest division of gymnosperms, with more than 550 species. Most are evergreen, upright trees and shrubs. They grow throughout the world (except in Antarctica) and prefer temperate climate zones. Conifers include the pines (Pinus), junipers (Juniperus), spruces (Picea), hemlocks (Tsuga), firs (Abies), larches (Larix), yews (Taxus), cypresses (Cupressus), bald cypress cypresses (Taxodium), Douglas firs (Pseudotsuga), arborvitaes (Thuja), and related groups. They include the world's smallest and tallest trees. Conifers supply softwood timber used for general construction, mine timbers, fence posts, poles, boxes and crates, and other articles, as well as pulpwood for paper. The wood is also used as fuel and in the manufacture of cellulose products, plywood, and veneers. The trees are the source of resins, volatile oils, turpentine, tars, and pharmaceuticals. Conifer leaves vary in shape but generally have a reduced surface area to minimize water loss. Especially in the pines, firs, and spruces, the leaves are long and stiff and are commonly referred to as needles. Cypresses, cedars, and others have smaller, scalelike leaves. Conifers were the dominant type of vegetation just before the advent of angiosperms (see flowering plant).

* * *

▪ plant

Introduction

      any member of the division Pinophyta, class Pinopsida, order Pinales, made up of living and fossil gymnospermous plants that usually have needle-shaped, evergreen leaves and seeds attached to the scales of a woody, bracted cone. Among living gymnosperm divisions, the conifers show little similarity to the Cycadophyta and Gnetophyta but share several vegetative and reproductive traits with the Ginkgophyta. Conifers are most abundant in cool temperate and boreal regions, where they are important timber trees and ornamentals, but they are most diverse in warmer areas, including tropical mountains.

General features

Diversity of size and structure

      The conifers are the most varied gymnosperms. The world's oldest trees are the 5,000-year-old bristlecone pines (pine) (Pinus longaeva) of desert mountains in California and Nevada. The largest trees are the giant sequoias (Sequoia) (Sequoiadendron giganteum (big tree)) of the Sierra Nevada of California, reaching heights of more than 95 metres and weights of at least two million kilograms (4.4 million pounds; compared to 190,000 kilograms for the largest recorded blue whale). Wherever conifers grow, especially in temperate climates, one of these species is usually the tallest tree. In fact, the very tallest trees are the redwoods (redwood) (Sequoia sempervirens) of coastal California, some of which are more than 110 metres tall.

      The world's smallest trees probably are also conifers: the natural bonsai cypresses (Cupressus goveniana) and shore pines (Pinus contorta) of the pygmy forests (adjacent to the towering redwood forests) of the northern California coasts. On the sterile, hardpan soils of these astounding forests, the trees may reach full maturity at under 0.2 metre (7.9 inches) in height, while individuals of the same species on richer, deeper soils can grow to more than 30 metres. Other conifers, such as the pygmy pine (Lepidothamnus laxifolius) of New Zealand, the smallest conifer, are always shrubby and may mature as shorter plants (less than 8 centimetres in height) than the pygmy cypress, but with greater spread.

Distribution and abundance

      Conifers almost cover the globe, from within the Arctic Circle to the limits of tree growth in the Southern Hemisphere. At these extremes, they often form pure stands of one or a few species. The immense boreal forests (or taiga (boreal forest)) of northern Eurasia and North America are dominated by just a dozen species of conifers, with even fewer adjunct kinds of hardwoods. The richest north temperate conifer forests are those of mid-latitude mountain systems, where conifers also dominate in numbers. At lower latitudes and moderate elevations are found warm temperate woodlands and forests of pine (Pinus), oak (Quercus, a hardwood), and juniper (Juniperus), which vary in composition and density across Eurasia and North America.

      Most tropical conifers are confined to cooler mountain areas where they form solid stands or grow with tropical hardwoods, while a few species inhabit lower elevations. The dammars (kauri pine) (Agathis), for instance, dominate lowland tropical rain forests in Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines, where they support an important forest industry. Conifers are widespread in southern temperate regions as well, generally with less dominance than in the north. Their greatest diversity is found in the humid portions of the three southern continents, but the largest areas are occupied by semiarid open woodlands of cypress pine (Callitris) in Australia and sederboom (Widdringtonia) in southern Africa.

      Conifer species are unevenly distributed. The Eurasian continent is richest in conifers, but every region has its own endemic genera and species. The most widely distributed genera are junipers (Juniperus) and pines (Pinus), both of which cover the northern continents and extend well into the tropics. Spruces (Picea) and firs (Abies) are only slightly more restricted. Podocarpus is the most widely distributed genus on the southern continents, followed by Retrophyllum.

      At the other extreme, the most narrowly restricted endemic genera are Austrotaxus, Neocallitropsis, and Parasitaxus of New Caledonia, an island with the richest conifer flora in the world for its size (14 genera and 44 species). Other highly local genera include Athrotaxis, Diselma, and Microcachrys in Tasmania, Fitzroya and Saxegothaea in Chile and Argentina, Sequoiadendron in California, and Metasequoia and Pseudotaxus in China. Most conifer genera fall between these extremes, with scattered distributions on one or more continents.

Economic importance

      Conifers provide all the world's softwood timber, the major construction wood of temperate regions, and about 45 percent of the world's annual lumber production. Softwoods have always had many general and specialty applications. The original great cedar (Cedrus libani) forests of the Middle East were felled to float the warring imperial navies of the ancient world. The same fate later befell the tall North American white pines (Pinus strobus) that masted the dominating British navies of the 18th and 19th centuries. Medieval archers drew longbows of the elastic yew wood (Taxus baccata). Victims of war and other dead in East Asia have been buried from earliest recorded times in coffins of sugi (Cryptomeria japonica) and sanmu (Cunninghamia lanceolata), relatives of the equally decay- and termite-resistant redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) and bald cypress (Taxodium distichum). In the family Cupressaceae are the fragrant cedars. Some are still used to line the chests that protect fine fabrics and furs against insects, but the wonderful fragrance of sharpened lead pencils has disappeared as eastern red cedar or pencil cedar (Juniperus virginiana) has been superseded by tropical hardwoods.

      The domination of softwoods in lumber construction in northern temperate regions has been further extended by composite products such as plywood, particleboard, and chipboard. Other processed softwood products include paper and plastics derived from chemically treated wood pulp of spruces (Picea), tannins from the bark of hemlock (Tsuga canadensis), and naval stores (including turpentine) from many pines. Foods and beverages from conifers include pine nuts and gin, which is flavoured with juniper berries. Canadian balsam, from resin blisters on the bark of the balsam fir (Abies balsamea) of northeastern North America, is used as a mounting medium for microscopic preparations.

      Conifers are popular ornamentals in parks, cemeteries, and other public places, as well as around private homes and gardens. Although few species are grown indoors as houseplants, the traditional Christmas tree of western Europe and North America brings the fragrance and freshness of the forest into homes during the depth of the northern winter.

Natural history

      All conifers share a typical seed-plant life cycle with a long-lived, dominant, photosynthetic, diploid sporophyte and a reduced, transient, dependent, haploid gametophyte. All phases of this general life cycle vary among conifers.

sporophyte phase

      The sporophytes of all conifers are trees or shrubs. They have a life span that ranges from a few decades to more than 5,000 years. The ecological role and way of life of this sole photosynthetic phase of the conifer life cycle varies with the size, form, and habitat of each species. Where conifers are ecologically dominant, as in the boreal and montane forests of the Northern Hemisphere, including the Douglas fir forests (forest fire) of western North America, they may make up 90 percent or more of all the living matter and they contribute greatly to the biosphere through photosynthesis. One unusual genus, Parasitaxus (of New Caledonia) is the only gymnosperm that is parasitic, deriving water and nutrients from the roots of Falcatifolium, another conifer genus.

      Fires play an important role in many conifer forests. Most conifers contain highly flammable resins. The flammability of these trees increases during hot, dry fire weather, when the water content of the living needles is drastically reduced. Few adult conifers can withstand a conflagration. The giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) is an outstanding exception because it has insulating bark more than 50 centimetres thick.

      Despite their susceptibility to fires, many conifers actually depend on these apparent catastrophes for regeneration. In such fire-dependent forests (including giant sequoia groves, Douglas fir forests, boreal forests, low latitude pine forests, and Australian cypress pine woodlands), the dominant conifers are unable to regenerate among the more shade-tolerant species that grow up around them with time. Fires clear the understory to bare soil, stimulating the germination and establishment of seeds. Most of these species have cones that protect the seeds from the worst of the fire and then open to scatter them on the ash-fertilized seed bed.

      At the other extreme are flooded (flood) swamp forests of bald cypress (Taxodium) in the southeastern United States and shuaisuong (Glyptostrobus) in southeastern China. Reproduction of these trees is as attuned to flooding as that of fire species is to scorched earth. Their seeds have air and resin pockets that allow them to float away to slightly raised areas revealed by receding floodwaters.

      Without extremes of fire and flood, mesophytic species living in temperate and tropical mixed forests may dominate or grow scattered among other trees. The conifers with broad, flat blades rather than needle leaves almost all live in moist forests, as do most species whose seeds have fleshy structures that attract birds or small mammals.

gametophyte phase

      The gametophytes of conifers, like those of other seed plants, live out their brief, nonphotosynthetic lives almost entirely within the spore wall. All of their nutrition is derived from the parent sporophyte. The female gametophyte is never released from the tree until the seed matures. The male gametophyte is briefly separated from the sporophyte when pollen is released into the wind. These pollen grains contain an immature male gametophyte enclosed and dispersed in the microspore wall. In the Pinaceae, three successive divisions of the microspore produce a four-celled pollen grain within the microsporangium. It has two tiny prothallial (prothallium) cells (the last body remnants of the old free-living gametophyte), a tube cell, and a generative cell. After pollination, the tube cell develops the pollen tube and the generative cell divides to form a sterile cell and a spermatogenous cell. Prior to fertilization, the spermatogenous cell divides again to produce two male gametes. Other conifers share the later phases of male gametophyte development with the Pinaceae, but vary in the number of prothallial cells, from none in Cephalotaxus, Sciadopitys, Cupressaceae, and Taxaceae to as many as 40 in Agathis of the Araucariaceae, which has the most complex male gametophytes among the seed plants. Unlike the ovule (megasporangium), which houses a solitary female gametophyte, each microsporangium produces hundreds or thousands of pollen grains.

      The female gametophytes of conifers are more massive and complex than their male counterparts and basically resemble gametophytes of Ginkgo and the cycads. The life history of the female gametophyte begins with a protracted series of free nuclear divisions in the megaspore. At the end of these divisions, there may be up to 2,000 nuclei in a thin layer of cytoplasm pressed against the megaspore wall by a giant central vacuole. Cell walls then form between adjacent nuclei and gradually extend into the central vacuole until the entire gametophyte is filled with radially elongated alveolar cells that are equivalent to the prothallial cells of the pollen grain. This stage is followed by the appearance of archegonia at the micropylar end of the ovule. One to eight archegonia are usual in the female gametophyte of conifers, but there may be up to 200 in some species, each of which can produce an embryo if fertilized. Each archegonium has a single huge egg cell capped by a ventral canal cell and separated from the micropylar surface of the gametophyte by a short neck made up of one or two layers of neck cells. The archegonial end of the female gametophyte usually protrudes from the megaspore wall, which might otherwise prevent pollen tube penetration and fertilization.

pollination

      Like Ginkgo, but unlike at least some cycads and gnetophytes, all conifers are pollinated by wind. Pollen may be produced in enormous quantities, particularly by species of true pine (Pinus), which can blanket the surface of nearby lakes and ponds with a yellow scum of pollen (the pollen can cause allergies in humans). The pollen grains of many Pinaceae and Podocarpaceae have air bladders, which orient them in a pollination droplet exuded by the ovules so that, when this droplet is withdrawn back into the ovule, the pollen tube will penetrate the nucellus to the archegonium. The pollen grains of families that lack prothallial cells are more or less spherical, lack air sacs, and can extend a pollen tube anywhere on their surface so that precise orientation is unnecessary. Some conifers lack a pollination droplet mechanism. Douglas fir pollen grains land on an enlarged, stigmalike growth of the micropyle, from which the pollen tubes grow into the nucellus and archegonium. The pollen grains of the Araucariaceae land on the scales of the female cone, and the pollen tubes reach the micropyle by burrowing into the cone scales.

Fertilization and embryogeny

      The processes of gametophyte growth and maturation in conifers is slow. The time from pollination to fertilization can exceed a year. After passing through the nucellus, the pollen tube presses between the neck cells of the archegonium and ruptures to release the tube nucleus, sterile cell, and the two male gametes (sperms). The ventral canal cell seems to help the male gametes enter the egg. One of the sperm fertilizes (fertilization) the egg nucleus to form the zygote, the first cell of the new sporophyte generation (alternation of generations).

      The conifer zygote has fewer free nuclear divisions than do Ginkgo or the cycads. While many divide twice to form four free nuclei in the centre of the egg cytoplasm, there may be from zero to six free nuclear divisions. The nuclei usually move away from the micropyle, and cell-wall formation accompanies further cell divisions. The embryo develops and is fed by the nutritive tissue of the female gametophyte. The embryo rapidly enlarges at the expense of the maternal tissue and initiates typical sporophytic organization, consisting at maturity of a single axis with a root apex at one end and a shoot apex at the other, surrounded by two to eight cotyledons.

germination

      The mature seed consists of the dormant embryo embedded in remnants of the female gametophyte and megasporangium (nucellus) and surrounded by a seed coat. The seed coat of conifers is similar to that of other gymnosperms, developing from an integument with three distinct layers. Only the hard middle stony layer is evident in most conifers, protecting the embryo between seed release and germination. The outer fleshy layer is most prominent in those conifers, such as Cephalotaxaceae and some Taxaceae, whose seeds are dispersed by animals. The inner fleshy layer functions in the early development of the ovule, but persists only as a thin, papery membrane in the mature seed.

      Germination proceeds immediately upon dispersal to a suitable site in many tropical conifers, but most cool temperate species require a winter period of cold, moist stratification before they will germinate. After the embryo absorbs water, a seedling root breaks through the seed coat and turns down into the soil.

      The stem below the cotyledons elongates and lifts them above the ground. As the cotyledons begin to photosynthesize, they produce the energy needed for the early growth of shoots. The seedling shoot is densely clothed with needle-shaped juvenile leaves for a varying time until adult foliage forms; some cedars of the family Cupressaceae produce their first flattened side shoots within just a few nodes, while the longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) of the southeastern United States remains in a juvenile “grass” stage for years.

Form and function

      The basic organization of the conifer sporophyte resembles that of other seed plants. The four main organs (stems, leaves, roots, and sporangia) are all usually distinct from one another and have well-defined physiological functions. The considerable variation that occurs in these organs are commensurate with the varied environments in which the different species grow.

stem

      Stems raise the photosynthetic leaves into the light and provide a channel for nutrients between the leaves and the roots. Most of the diameter of mature conifer stems consists of secondary xylem (wood) produced by the vascular cambium, a permanent cylinder of dividing cells that lies just inside the bark. Because the growth of most conifers is cyclic, the wood generally consists of distinct growth rings (growth ring). These are delimited by the juxtaposition of small dark cells from the end of a growing season with larger, lighter cells that mark resumption of growth. In temperate conifers, these rings correspond to annual growth flushes since no wood is formed during winter dormancy. Tropical species may lack this correspondence unless their habitat has strong seasonal variation in rainfall. Otherwise, they may have more than one growth ring in a year, each accompanying a new flush of leaves and branches.

      The wood of conifers is generally more uniform and simpler in structure than that of flowering plants. One type of cell, the tracheid, serves both to transport water and to support the trunk so that conifers lack the more textured wood associated with the mixture of vessel elements and fibres in hardwoods. The wood may have longitudinal resin canals lined with living cells, but most of its living cells are found in the rays that extend horizontally from the centre of the stem to the vascular cambium. The pits, the tiny thinnings that connect adjacent wood cells, are quite varied among conifer families and genera and are one of the chief features used to identify conifer woods.

      The bark that clothes the trunks may be thin, smooth, and flaky, peeling annually to reveal fresh bright colours, as in the lacebark pine (Pinus bungeana) of China and the tecate cypress (Cupressus guadalupensis) of southern California and Baja California, or it may accumulate in broad, colourful plates, as in the ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) of western North America, or as thick, fireproof, fibrous ridges on the giant sequoias (Sequoiadendron giganteum). The practiced eye can distinguish different species of co-occurring conifers by their bark alone.

      Some conifers have transient special determinate twigs called short shoots that carry most of the photosynthetic leaves. In the bald cypress (Taxodium) and dawn redwood (Metasequoia), these short shoots look like double-sided combs and are shed each fall, to be followed by new ones in the same spots on the branches when growth resumes the following spring. The short shoots of pine (Pinus), with their fascicles of two to five (rarely one or eight) needles, are retained for up to 20 years but are finally shed and almost never grow out as branches. In contrast, the peglike short shoots of larch (Larix) and true cedar (Cedrus), like those of Ginkgo, are permanent, elongating slowly and producing new needles each year. The flattened sprays of branchlets of cedars in the family Cupressaceae may act like short shoots, falling intact after a relatively brief life, or they may provide the framework for further branching.

      The strangest conifer shoots are the phylloclades that give the celery pine (Phyllocladus) its name. These flattened branches look like fern fronds, are green, and are the main photosynthetic organs of the tree. The true leaves are tiny scales that contribute little to overall food production.

Leaves

      Leaves (leaf) are specialized photosynthetic organs. The varied leaves of conifers are attached singly along the stems in a helical pattern (in some genera the leaves appear whorled) or in opposite pairs or trios. Many Cupressaceae and a few other conifers have minute scale leaves only a few millimetres long. Diverse needle- and claw-shaped leaves range in length from about one centimetre in many conifers to more than 30 centimetres in some species of pine. Broad, flat, oblong blades up to 30 centimetres long occur in Agathis and some species of Decussocarpus from East Asia, and the monkey puzzle tree (Araucaria araucana) of Chile has hefty triangular wedges. The notched needles of the Japanese umbrella pine (Sciadopitys verticillata) are the oddest leaves among living conifers. They can be needlelike phylloclades or a pair of longitudinally fused needles. The largest conifer leaves were those of the extinct genus Cordaites, with great paddle- or strap-shaped leaves up to one metre long and 15 centimetres wide.

      Most conifer leaves, whatever their shape, minimize water loss. The reduced surface area of the scale- to needle-shaped leaves is an obvious example, but even the broader forms often have a thick, waxy coating that makes them waterproof. The gas-exchange openings of the leaves (stomates (stomate)) are usually confined to a pair of narrow bands on the undersurface and are deeply sunken into chambers that separate them from direct contact with the dry air surrounding the leaf.

Roots (root)

      Roots gather water and mineral nutrients from the soil and anchor and support the above-ground portions. Most conifers have rather shallow, if wide-spreading, root systems, making the trunks highly susceptible to wind and surface disturbance. Even the largest conifers are no exceptions, and many of the individual giant sequoias (Sequoiadendron giganteum) in national parks in California are ringed by fences to reduce damage to the roots by the footsteps of millions of admiring visitors. The roots are the least-studied parts of the conifers but appear to be relatively uniform throughout the group. The specialized roots by which the only parasitic conifer, Parasitaxus ustus, attaches to the roots of its conifer hosts are an exception, but the oddest root structures are the “knees” of bald cypresses (bald cypress) (Taxodium distichum), conical masses of woody tissue that emerge from the swamp waters around each tree. Their function is still poorly understood.

      The fine feeding roots of conifers, like those of many flowering plants, do not work alone. They get a boost in their work by associating with specialized fungi whose structural filaments (hyphae) intermingle with them to form mycorrhizae (mycorrhiza). There are two distinct types of mycorrhizal associations among the conifers. The majority of species have vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizae, called endomycorrhizae because the fungal hyphae actually penetrate the cells of the roots. All of the Pinaceae, and only the Pinaceae, have the other kind of root symbiosis, called ectomycorrhizal because the fungi sheath the rootlets and hyphae pass between the outer root cells without penetrating them. Each year, new roots grow out from the sheath and are recolonized only when the fungi later resume active growth. Ectomycorrhizal fungi reproduce through the attached mushrooms that are seen sprouting in pine forests, whereas endomycorrhizal fungi do so underground.

Strobili (cone)

      The sporangia of vascular plants are technically asexual, but in the seed plants, because the gametophytes are wholly dependent upon the sporophyte and the female gametophyte even remains within the megasporangium, sexual terminology continues to be erroneously extended to the sporophyte and sporangium-bearing organs. In all conifers the organs containing microsporangia (“male”) are separate from those bearing megasporangia (“female”), and in Cephalotaxus, some junipers (Juniperus), and the family Taxaceae these are found on different individuals.

      The microsporangia of all conifers are attached to the scales of a simple pollen cone, or microstrobilus. The pollen cones usually consist of thin, parchmentlike scales (microsporophylls), each carrying two or more microsporangia on the lower surface. The number of scales and their size is quite variable, so that the overall length of the microstrobilus ranges from about two millimetres in some cypress (Cupressus) species to more than 20 centimetres in some Araucaria species.

      Wide variations in the female (megasporangiate) reproductive structures among the conifers are the main basis for their classification. Most living conifers have a seed cone that is interpreted as a compound strobilus; each cone scale, inserted in the axil of a bract, is equivalent to an entire simple pollen cone. Fossil evidence shows how each ovule-bearing dwarf shoot of ancestral conifers was reduced and fused to form a single cone scale. Like the leaves, the bracts and scales are spirally arranged or occur in pairs or trios on the axis, and modern conifers have at least some fusion between each bract and its scale. The bracts and scales, or combined scales, vary in texture from woody to leathery, or even fleshy in bird-dispersed junipers (Juniperus) and the family Podocarpaceae. The number and size of cone scales varies widely among conifers, leading to seed cones that range from three millimetres long and less than one gram in Microbiota of the Amur region of Russia to more than 40 centimetres long in the sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana) of California and more than 2.2 kilograms in some Araucariaceae and the coulter pine (Pinus coulteri) of California.

      The megasporangiate strobili of Cephalotaxus and most Podocarpaceae have the same basic structure as other conifer cones, but are so reduced and dominated by their much larger seeds that they do not look like cones. Even greater modification in the family Taxaceae has completely eliminated any trace of strobilar organization, and the solitary seeds sit at the tip of a short branch in a fleshly aril, a cup-shaped outgrowth of the seed stalk.

Classification

Distinguishing taxonomic features

      Extant conifers differ from other gymnosperms in combining simple pollen cones with compound seed cones (or solitary terminal seeds in family Taxaceae). Although not possessed by all species, only conifers have needle leaves (of a variety of shapes) and pollen with bladders. Some other features, although not exclusive to conifers, are also more common in them than in other gymnosperms. These include flattened, winged seeds (also in Welwitschia), scalelike foliage leaves (also in Ephedra), and the growth habit of a normal tree or shrub (also in Ginkgo).

Annotated classification

      With 7 extant families, 68 genera, and 545 species, classification of the extant conifers remains controversial. Disagreements exist throughout the classification, so that the numbers of orders, families, genera, and species are all disputed. The classification outlined here reflects current opinion for living conifers but simplifies extinct groups because the number of families to be recognized among the fossils is so uncertain. Extinct groups are indicated by a dagger (†).

†Class Cordaitopsida

 Paleozoic; strap-shaped leaves, up to 1 metre long, much larger than those of true conifers; both pollen and seed cones were compound and open, each bract with an axillary branch bearing numerous scale leaves surrounding pollen sacs or ovules; generally considered the ancestors of the Coniferales.Class Pinopsida

 

      Order Pinales

 Contains the extant coniferophytes and a number of fossil families; ovules attached to the scales of a condensed compound seed cone; families defined by seed-cone structure.

      †Families Walchiaceae and Voltziaceae

 Paleozoic and Mesozoic; show many stages in the transformation of the seed-bearing dwarf shoots of cordaiteans into the unified, flattened seed scales of modern conifers; foliage resembled that of araucarians; include Walchia, Voltzia, and Voltziopsis.

      †Family Cheirolepidiaceae

 Mesozoic; scales shed from the cone together with the seeds; large bracts remain attached to the axis in a semblance of a complete cone; distinctive pollen, called Classopollis; foliage resembles that found in the modern Cupressaceae; great variety of life-styles.

      Family Pinaceae

 Largest and most widespread and abundant modern conifer family in the Northern Hemisphere; woody, usually thin, cone scales carry two winged seeds and are fused to the bracts only at their bases; bracts usually hidden by the scales in mature seed cones but may be prominently exserted in some species; leaves are most often needlelike and spirally arranged, either singly or in clusters; pine (Pinus), spruces (Picea), firs (Abies), and larches (larch) (Larix) are all found across the Northern Hemisphere, while Douglas firs (Pseudotsuga) and hemlocks (hemlock) (Tsuga) are restricted to North America and Asia, Cathaya, Keteleeria, Nothotsuga, and Pseudolarix are restricted to China, and the true cedars (Cedrus) occur from Morocco to the Himalayas; 11 extant genera; about 200 species.

      Family Araucariaceae

 From Triassic; massive seed cones with a single large seed on each cone scale; highly reduced scales completely fused to the much larger bracts; species of Araucaria have branches densely clothed with prickly, spirally arranged, clawlike-to-wedge-shaped leaves; dammars (Agathis) have well-separated, oppositely arranged oval or oblong leaves; found in South America, Southeast Asia, and Australasia; 3 extant genera and 33 species.

      Family Sciadopityaceae

 Umbrella pine (Sciadopitys verticillata) usually included in the Cupressaceae, but recent work confirms its isolation from that family; seed cones superficially resemble those of the giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum), but the equal-sized scales and bracts fused for only about two thirds of their length, each having 5 to 9 seeds; foliage consists of whorls of about 15 to 20 double needles separated by stem segments with spirally arranged, nonphotosynthetic scale leaves; endemic to Japan.

      Family Cupressaceae

 Although species of this family are traditionally divided between two families, Cupressaceae for the cypresses (Cupressus) and similar genera and Taxodiaceae for the much more varied genera allied to the bald cypress (Taxodium) and redwood (Sequoia), present evidence shows that all belong to a single family containing 30 genera and 133 species; scales of seed cone intimately fused to the bracts; scale complexes vary in texture, shape, and arrangement on the cone; most have 3 to 5 seeds per scale, but the number ranges from 1 to about 20; leaves vary in shape from scales to clawlike or needlelike and are spirally arranged or in opposite pairs or whorls of 3; several genera, usually referred to as cedars (such as Calocedrus, Chamaecyparis, Libocedrus, and Thuja), have flattened sprays of frondlike branches closely covered with scale leaves; considerable diversity in both the Northern (18 genera) and Southern (11 genera) hemispheres; 50 or more species of junipers (Juniperus) are widespread, exceeding even the pines in their coverage of the Northern Hemisphere; other genera include Athrotaxis, Callitris, Cryptomeria, Cunninghamia, Diselma, Fitzroya, Metasequoia, Microbiota, Neocallitropsis, Sequoiadendron, and Widdringtonia.

      Family Podocarpaceae

 Seed cone is reduced, with 1 to few highly modified, brightly coloured, fleshy scales, each called an epimatium and surrounding a single seed; most with spirally arranged, yewlike needles, but scale leaves and opposite, broad, oblong blades (up to 30 cm long and 5 cm wide) are also found; nearly 200 species in about 18 genera, including Decussocarpus, Lepidothamnus, Microcachrys, Parasitaxus, Phyllocladus, Podocarpus, and Saxegothaea. Phyllocladus was for a time thought to comprise a new family, Phyllocladaceae, but genetic evidence demonstrates the genus's affinity with Podocarpaceae.

      Family Cephalotaxaceae

 Seed cones highly modified with a few opposite pairs of small bracts, each with a greatly reduced scale remnant strongly dominated by a pair of ovules; only 1 ovule develops into a large seed with a fleshy seed coat; leaves are large yewlike needles carried in opposite pairs; found in East Asia, the plum-yews (Amentotaxus, Cephalotaxus (plum-yew)) are the second smallest and most local extant conifer family; 2 genera and about 11 species. Some botanists include this family in Taxaceae.

      Family Taxaceae

 Solitary ovules borne at the end of a dwarf shoot bearing densely spiraled scale leaves; mature seeds surrounded by a fleshy aril and may also have fleshy seed coats; Taxus seeds are highly toxic; pollen cones and flattened, needlelike leaves are more like those of other conifers than are their seeds; widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere, but Torreya is found in restricted areas of both North America and East Asia, Pseudotaxus is localized in China, and Austrotaxus is endemic to New Caledonia; 6 genera and about 30 species often segregated into an order separate from Pinales because of absence of seed cone.

James Emory Eckenwalder

Additional Reading

For information on conifers, see Gerd Krüssmann, Manual of Cultivated Conifers, 2nd rev. ed. (1985; originally published in German, 1983), an extensively illustrated account of cultivars and species of conifers used in gardens; D.M. van Gelderen and J.R.P. van Hoey Smith, Conifers (1986), a pictorial work complementing Krüssmann's book with colour photographs; N.T. Mirov, The Genus Pinus (1967), a thorough treatment of all aspects of the biology of the many species of this important temperate genus; George S. Allen and John N. Owens, The Life History of Douglas Fir (1972), a detailed description of the reproductive cycle of the conifer; Rudolf Florin, “Evolution in Cordaites and Conifers,” Acta Horti Bergiani 15(11):286–388 (1951), a summary of the definitive research on the evolution of seed cones in coniferophytes, and “The Distribution of Conifer and Taxad Genera in Time and Space,” Acta Horti Bergiani 20(4):122–312 (1963), an important survey, with thorough maps of distributions of living and fossil coniferophytes; Charles B. Beck (ed.), Origin and Evolution of Gymnosperms (1988), a collection of studies of fossil conifers with important discussions of early species; J.A. Hart, “A Cladistic Analysis of Conifers: Preliminary Results,” Journal of the Arnold Arboretum 68:269–307 (July 1987), a new approach to discovering relationships among conifer genera; J.E. Eckenwalder, “Re-evaluation of Cupressaceae and Taxodiaceae: A Proposed Merger,” Madroño 23(5):237–256 (1976), an original look at family relationships between extant conifers; and K.U. Kramer and P.S. Green (eds.), Pteridophytes and Gymnosperms (1990), a summary of conifer classification.

* * *