Conifers
The conifers are a group of woody shrubs and trees, including pines, firs, spruces, yews, junipers, cypresses and cedars. Find out more about them here.
Conifers differ from flowering plants in the way that they bear their reproductive organs; they are usually borne in cones (although there are some exceptions, for example yews have only a single, naked seed). The leaves of conifers are often needle-like or scale-like, but can also be broad and flat (as in Kauri pines) or elongated and flat (as in the genus Podocarpus).
There are over 600 species of conifer, and members of this plant group can be found growing in every continent. The conifers are divided into eight plant families: Pinaceae, Podocarpaceae, Cupressaceae, Araucariaceae, Cephalotaxaceae, Phyllocladaceae, Sciadopityaceae and Taxaceae.
Browse profiles
Araucaria araucana
monkey puzzle
Lagarostrobos franklinii
Huon pine
Pinus caribaea
Caribbean pine
Pinus pinea
stone pine
Sequoiadendron giganteum
giant redwood
Taxodium distichum
bald cypress
Taxus baccata
common yew
Wollemia nobilis
Wollemi pine
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