Conifers - Pinaceae

Douglas fir

Scientific name: Pseudotsuga menziesii

Family: Pinaceae

Shape: narrowly conical, occasionally up to 100 m in height

Foliage: evergreen leaves in two opposite ranks, with two white bands on undersurface

Female cone: hanging cone, up to 10 cm long, with characteristic bearded appearance due to bracts emerging between scales

Origin: western North America

Comments: a trunk of Douglas fir was used for the flagpole at Kew; it originally weighed 39 tonnes and was presented by the Government of British Columbia in 1958 to mark the centenary of the province and Kew’s bicentenary.

Japanese fir

Scientific name: Abies firma

Family: Pinaceae

Shape: tree to 50 m in height, oval or flattened crown

Foliage: evergreen; glossy leathery leaves in two opposite sets with V-shaped depression between them

Female cone: large erect cone up to 13 cm long, yellowish green before ripening, with bracts protruding slightly between scales; cone breaks apart when ripe

Origin: Japan

Comments: this is considered to be the most beautiful of the Japanese firs. It is widely used in Japan as a source of paper pulp.

Atlas cedar

Scientific name: Cedrus atlantica

Family: Pinaceae

Shape: massive trunk and large flat-topped crown, up to 40 m high

Foliage: evergreen; borne in tufts, needles up to 2 cm in length, blue-green in colour

Female cone: erect barrel shaped cone which is very resinous and breaks apart when seeds are ripe

Origin: Atlas mountains of Algeria and Morocco

Comments: unlike other conifers the cedars produce cones in autumn rather than spring. The three cedars can be distinguished by the level branches of C. libani (cedar of Lebanon), the ascending branches of C. atlantica and the descending branches of C. deodar (deodar).

Norway spruce

Scientific name: Picea abies

Family: Pinaceae

Shape: narrowly conical to 35 m high

Foliage: evergreen with slender needle-like leaves to 2 cm in length with sharp point; when leaves fall a small peg remains on the stem

Female cone: cylindrical brown hanging cone to 15 cm which ripens during the first year and releases seeds but cone remains on tree

Origin: Europe, particularly Scandinavia and northern Russia

Comments: this important timber tree is also used as a Christmas tree.

Scots pine

Scientific name: Pinus sylvestris

Family: Pinaceae

Shape: broadly spreading tree to 35 m; old specimens may only have branches at the top producing a flat crown

Foliage: evergreen; paired, usually twisted blue-green needles up to 7 cm long, with basal sheath

Female cone: hanging egg-shaped cone to 7.5 cm long

Origin: Asia and Europe; one of only three British native conifers

Comments: in mediaeval times, the name Pinus was given to any plant with a cone - this included species that we now call birches (Betula) and alders (Alnus).

European larch

Scientific name: Larix decidua

Family: Pinaceae

Shape: narrowly conical to 40 m, branches horizontal or upwardly curved with hanging branchlets

Foliage: deciduous; soft and needle-shaped to 4 cm, green becoming yellow in autumn

Female cone: egg-shaped upright cone to 4 cm, red when young

Origin: Europe

Comments: although larch is not native to Britain and was only imported in the mid-nineteenth century, it has quickly become important to a number of wild birds including the Scottish crossbill.

Notable conifers at Kew

Stone pine, Pinus pinea

Corsican pine, Pinus nigra subsp. laricio

More plants

Next: Araucariaceae

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