Coniferous Forest Plants and Trees
What is a coniferous tree
Evergreen cone-shaped trees, growing needle- or scale-like leaves are called conifers. Most trees growing in these forest regions are cone-bearing gymnosperms, meaning their seeds are bore exposed, without any outer enclosure, in the form of cones. Although nowhere as rich as temperate forests and tropical rainforests, the conifers have adapted well to thrive in the unconventional growing conditions of the coniferous forests.
There are over 600 extant species of conifers, which are categorized into different groups depending on their foliage shape and needle type.
Coniferous Trees
Coniferous Tree List Depending on Types |
| Spruces (stiff, sharp, rather short needles) | Engelmann Spruce, Serbian Spruce, Sitka Spruce, Red Spruce, Norway Spruce, Blue Spruce, White Spruce, |
| Firs (medium sized needles arranged singly on twigs) | Fraser Fir, Noble Fir, Concolor Fir, Korean Fir, Nordmann Fir, Subalpine Fir, Grand Fir, Balsam Fir, |
| Pines (flexible, long needle growing in bunches) | Limber Pine, Japanese Black Pine, Whitebark Pine, Virginia Pine, Shortleaf Pine, Pinyon Pine, Austrian Pine, Scots Pine, Ponderosa Pine, Norway Pine (Red Pine), Sugar Pine, Coulter Pine, Eastern White Pine, Jeffrey Pine, Loblolly Pine, Blue Pine, Foxtail Pine, Western White Pine, |
| Cedars (soft flexible and flattish needles) | Atlas Cedar, Port Orford Cedar, Deodar Cedar, Eastern Red Cedar, Cedar Tree of Lebanon, |
| Junipers (hard, sharp needle-like leaves and/or scaly leaves) | Creeping Juniper, Rocky Mountain Juniper, Alligator Juniper, |
| Hemlocks (short, flat needles and drooping branches) | Eastern Hemlock (Canadian Hemlock), Western Hemlock, Mountain Hemlock |
| Larches (slender, needle-like deciduous leaves growing in clusters) | Western Larch (Tamarack), Tamarack, European Larch, |
| Yews (flat, dark-green, lanceolate leaves) | Japanese Yew, Pacific Yew, English Yew, Japanese Plum Yew, Hick’s Yew, |
| Cypress (needle-like leaves, spirally arranged in decussate pairs or whorls) | Montezuma Cypress, Bald Cypress, Northern White Cedar, Japanese Cedar, Italian Cypress, Giant Sequoia, Dawn Redwood, California Redwood, |
