conifer
Americannoun
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conifers
plural
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any of numerous, chiefly evergreen trees or shrubs of the class Coniferinae (or group Coniferales), including the pine, fir, spruce, and other cone-bearing trees and shrubs, and also the yews and their allies that bear drupelike seeds.
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a plant producing naked seeds in cones, or single naked seeds as in yews, but with pollen always borne in cones.
noun
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Any of various gymnosperms that bear their reproductive structures in cones and belong to the phylum Coniferophyta. Conifers evolved around 300 million years ago and, as a group, show many adaptations to drier and cooler environments. They are usually evergreen and often have drought-resistant leaves that are needle-shaped or scalelike. They depend on the wind to blow pollen produced by male cones to female cones, where fertilization takes place and seeds develop. Conifers are widely distributed, but conifer species dominate the northern forest biome known as the taiga. There are some 550 species of conifers, including the pines, firs, spruces, hemlocks, cypresses, junipers, yews, and redwoods.
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See more at pollination seed-bearing plant
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of conifer
1350–1400; Middle English conefere < Latin cōnifer coniferous, equivalent to cōn ( us ) cone + -i- + -fer -fer
Explanation
A conifer is a type of tree that produces cones and evergreen needles. Spot a pile of cones beneath a tree and you've found yourself a conifer. With the word cone embedded in it, it's no surprise that conifer is the term used for cone-producing trees. Conifers can often be identified by their typically long needle-shaped leaves like the kind you find on a Christmas tree. Mostly found in northern forests where the winters are cold, the tough prickly leaves on conifers make them adaptable to the weather.
Vocabulary lists containing conifer
Stump Speech: Tree Terminology
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The United States
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Plants (Botany) - Introduction
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
It has more than 550 miles of hiking trails, including several treks where you can find yourself in solitude in dense conifer forests with sweeping mountain views.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 10, 2025
The couple, who have been together for 11 years, exchanged vows before an array of conifer branches and lights - their two young sons had front row seats.
From BBC ● Jan. 12, 2025
Angiosperms, or flowering plants, grew back faster and denser than the previously ubiquitous conifer relatives had been.
From Slate ● Oct. 21, 2024
A nonnative tree-killing insect is invading northern Utah, attacking subalpine fir and potentially triggering yet another die-off of the region's long-stressed conifer forests.
From Science Daily ● May 14, 2024
Too far north for the larger trees, hemmen or serem or black vate, the forest was all of one kind of tree, a gnarled scrubby conifer ten or twelve feet high, gray-needled, called thore.
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
"We've got palms, conifers, ferns, begonias, all of those families, plants are hugely important in our living collection and many of them are extinct in the wild," she said.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
The forest sees 15 million visitors each year, making it vulnerable to fires -- quite apart from its sandy soil and vegetation consisting of ferns and highly flammable conifers.
From Barron's ● Jul. 14, 2026
Its species name, cedrus, refers to cedar trees, evergreen conifers similar to those that existed in Late Triassic forests.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 23, 2026
This is very easy to picture on a hot day in California fire country, where conifers rustle against the eaves and the ground is dusty-dry.
From Slate ● Jan. 14, 2025
He sees the earthen floor of his childhood home, and the spiderwebbed light of dawn coming through conifers.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
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