Home › C › Coniferae (Large order of trees or shrubs)

Coniferae (Large order of trees or shrubs)

A large order of trees or shrubs, mostly evergreen, and with resinous secretions. Flowers monoecious or dioecious, naked, disposed either in cylindrical or short catkins, with closely-packed scales. The females are sometimes solitary. Ovules and seeds naked. Leaves alternate, opposite, or fascicled in a membranous sheath, often narrow, needle-like, or rigid, or reduced to dense imbricating scales, rarely with a flattened limb. Bentham and Hooker divide this large family into six tribes, viz.: ABIETINEAE, containing Abies, Cedrus, Larix, Picea, Pinus, Pseudotsuga, and Tsuga; ARAUCARIAE, containing Agathis, Araucaria, and Cunninghamia; CUPRESSINEAE, containing Actinostrobus, Callitris, Cupressus, Fitzroya, Juniperus, Libocedrus, and Thuja; PODOCARPEAE, containing Microcachrys, Podocarpus, and Saxegothea; TAXEAE, containing Dacrydium, Ginkgo, Pherosphaera, Phyllocladus, Taxus, and Torreya; TAXODIEAE, containing Athrotaxus, Cephalotaxus Cryptomeria, Sequoia, and Taxodium.