Excerpt
What Are Conifers?
Conifers are woody plants, usually evergreen trees or shrubs. Their leaves are usually in the form of needles, sometimes quite thin and stiff or somewhat flattened, or small scales that hug the twigs. The needlelike leaves may be solitary or grouped into bundles, called fascicles. Rarely, the leaves may be in the form of broader blades (e.g.,
Agathis, Phyllocladus
).
Conifers form seeds, but unlike the other major group of seed-forming plants, the angiosperms or flowering plants, in which the seeds are protected in enveloping fruits, the conifers are members of the more ancient group, the gymnosperms. The word
gymnosperm
means "naked seed," and although it is true that gymnosperms do not form true flowers or fruits, the word is somewhat misleading because the seeds of conifers are often "protected" in their cones. The word
conifer
means "cone bearer." The seed cones are the female reproductive structures of conifers. Conifers also have male reproductive structures, pollen-bearing "cones" that are usually smaller and are not woody. Each type of cone is made up of "scales" that bear ovules (female) or pollen-producing sacs (male). When the ovules are fertilized following transfer of pollen from the male cones, they develop into seeds borne in the seed cones. Each scale is subtended by a bract that is sometimes prominent and protrudes beyond the end of the scale (e.g.,
Pseudotsuga
). Also, not all seed "cones" are woody like those of the familiar pine (
Pinus
) cones. The cones of some conifers are fleshy and quite fruitlike (e.g.,
Juniperus, Podocarpus
). The "cones" of the single-seeded yews,
Taxus
, have been reduced to a soft, fleshy, red "aril" that forms an open-ended cup around the black seed.
Male and female cones may be found on the same individual plant, in which case the species is said to be monoecious. Or male and female cones may be restricted to separate plants, so that individual plants are either male or female, in which case the species is said to be dioecious.