Individual Conifer Species

Study, identify and name the major North American Conifers

Port Orford Cedar, A Common Tree in North America

Port Orford cedar is of great importance in horticulture, with several hundred cultivars available for garden and yard planting. Port orford cedar grows best in well-drained but moist soils. The wood is light and durable highly valued in Japan where it is in high demand for making coffins, shrines and temples. Due to the straightness of its...

Western Larch, An Important Tree in North America

Western larch (Larix occidentalis), a deciduous conifer, is also called tamarack and western tamarack; less commonly used names are hackmatack, mountain larch, and Montana larch. It is largest of the larches and is the most important timber species of the genus. Western larch is used for lumber, fine veneer, poles, ties, mine timbers, and pulpwood.

Red Pine, An Important Tree in North America

Red pine is the northern counterpart of the southern yellow pines. But unlike the southern pines, red pine has needles of only two per bundle. P. resinosa is one of the most extensively planted species in the northern United States and Canada. Red pine is confined to the Northern Forest region and the southern fringe of the Boreal Forest region.

Shortleaf Pine, An Important Tree in North America

Shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata) is one of the four most important commercial conifers in the southeastern United States. Depending upon locale, the species is also called shortleaf yellow, southern yellow, oldfield, shortstraw, or Arkansas soft pine.

Slash Pine, An Important Tree in North America

Slash pine (Pinus elliottii) is one of the hard yellow pines indigenous to southeastern United States. Other names occasionally used for this species include southern pine, yellow slash pine, swamp pine, pitch pine, and Cuban pine.

Virginia Pine, An Important Tree in North America

Virginia pine (Pinus virginiana) has a definite place among trees of commercial importance in spite of once being considered a "forest weed" and called scrub pine. Also known as Jersey pine and spruce pine, it does so well in reforesting abandoned and cutover lands that it has become a principal source of pulpwood and lumber in the southeast.

Ponderosa Pine, An Important Tree in North America

Ponderosa pine is one of the most widely distributed pines in western North America. P. ponderosa reaches heights of 180 feet with diameters of 4 feet. It has a pyramidal crown when young but maturing to a flat crown. One identifier is the bark has a vanilla-like smell.

Jeffrey Pine, An Important Tree in North America

Jeffrey pine (Pinus jeffreyi) was discovered in 1852 in the Shasta Valley of California by John Jeffrey, a Scottish botanical explorer. Partly overlapping ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) in range and superficially resembling it, Jeffrey pine was first classified as a variety of ponderosa pine.

Sugar Pine, An Important Tree in North America

Called "the most princely of the genus" by its discoverer, David Douglas, sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana) is the tallest and largest of all pines, commonly reaching heights of 175 to 200 feet and diameters of 36 to 60 inches. Old trees occasionally exceed 500 years and, among associated species, are second only to giant sequoia in volume.

Pitch Pine, An Important Tree in North America

The species name of pitch pine (Pinus rigida) means rigid or stiff and refers to both the cone scales and the wide-spreading, sharply pointed needles. It is a medium-sized tree with moderately strong, coarse-grained, resinous wood that is used primarily for rough construction and where decay resistance is important.

Pinyon Pine, An Important Tree in North America

Pinyon pine is a widely distributed pine that grows in the Intermountain region of western North America. It is a major indicator tree in the pinyon-juniper life zone. P. edulis is a short and scrubby tree that rarely reaches heights taller than 35 feet. Growth is very slow and trees with with diameters of 4 to 6 inches can be several hundred...

Lodgepole Pine, An Important Tree in North America

Lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) is a two-needled pine of the subgenus Pinus. The species has been divided geographically into four varieties: P. contorta var. contorta, P. contorta var. bolanderi, P. contorta var. murrayana and P. contorta var. latifolia. Lodgepole pine is not only an important timber species but is also a major tree cover in...

Loblolly Pine, An Important Tree in North America

Loblolly pine is the most commercially important pine of the Southeast where it is dominant on approximately 29 million acres and makes up over one-half the standing pine volume. This pine cannot survive the occasional severe winters of USDA zone 5 but has a solid hold on most of the southern forest. It is the most common plantation pine in the...

Tamarack, An Important Tree in North America

Tamarack is one of only three native North American larch species and is the most common. This larch sheds its needles in the fall like baldcypress. Tamarack is the most cold-hardy of any native tree and has the strongest wood of all the conifers. Tamarack also has the widest range of all the North American conifers.

Western Hemlock, An Important Tree in North America

Western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) thrives in humid areas of the Pacific coast and northern Rocky Mountains. Western hemlock provides an important part of the esthetic background for eight national parks-four each in the United States and Canada. It is a pioneer on many sites, yet it is commonly the climax dominant. Although western hemlock grows like a weed, its versatility and potential for m…

North American Tree List by Common Name - Conifers

CONIFER - A tree belonging to the order Coniferales. Trees with needles or scalelike leaves and cones as opposed to broad, flat leaves that more often than not are coneless. EVERGREEN - perennial plants which normally keep foliage or needles through the entire year. SOFTWOOD - Softwood trees are usually evergreen, bear cones, and have...

Longleaf Pine, A Common Tree in North America

As the name implies, longleaf pine has the longest needles of any native North American pine. The needles grow in bundles of three and can reach a length of 18 inches (45 cm) and gracefully droop from course, stubby branches of a mature tree. New seedlings don't put a lot of effort toward quick growth and can stay in a "grass stage" for a decade...

Eastern Hemlock, A Common Tree in North America

Eastern hemlock has a nodding" form defined by it's limbs and leaders and can be recognized at great distances. Some rank this tree among the "quality plants" to add to the landscape. They are "long-lived, refined in character and have no off-season" according to Guy Sternberg in Native Trees in North American Landscapes. Unlike most conifers,...

Jack Pine, A Common Tree in North America

Jack pine (Pinus banksiana) is a small-to medium-sized coniferous tree of the northern forests of the United States and Canada, where it is an important source of pulpwood, lumber, and round timber. It grows farther north than any other American pine and is the most widely distributed pine species in Canada. It is a pioneer species in succession...

Eastern White Pine, A Common Tree in North America

White pine is the tallest native conifer in eastern North America. Pinus strobus is the state tree of Maine and Michigan and is the Ontario arboreal emblem. Unique identifying markers are the tree's branching rings which are added each year and the only five-needled eastern pine. Note in the picture below that needle bundles cluster in a...

Eastern Redcedar, A Common Tree in North America

Eastern redcedar is not a true cedar. It is a juniper and the most widely distributed native conifer in the Eastern United States. It is found in every state east of the 100th meridian. This hardy tree is often among the first trees to occupy cleared areas where its seeds are spread by cedar waxwings and other birds that enjoy the fleshy,...

Eastern Redcedar, A Common Tree in North America

Balsam Fir, Common Tree in North America

Balsam fir is the most cold-hardy and aromatic of all firs. It seems to gladly suffer the Canadian cold but is also comfortable when planted in mid-latitude eastern North America. A. balsamea normally grows to a height of 60 feet and can live at sea level to 6,000 feet. The tree is one of America's most popular Christmas trees.

Baldcypress, Common Tree in North Am America

Baldcypress grows in a natural range, from New York City's Central Park to the water saturated swamps of Florida's Everglades and back up the Mississippi River Basin. The "low elevation" species follows much of the eastern United States system of rivers. Even though baldcypress is a conifer, the needles (actually the twiglets) shed annually...

Live Oak, Common Tree in North Am America

Live oak is a symbolic tree of the Deep South. Q. virginiana has a squat and leaning form with a large diameter tapering trunk. The leaves are semi-evergreen, are waxy and resist to salt spray which allow the tree to live on the southern coast and on barrier islands. The acorns are the primary food for coastal wildlife.

Atlantic White-cedar, A Common Tree in North America

Atlantic white-cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides), also called southern white-cedar, white-cedar, and swamp-cedar, is found most frequently in small dense stands in fresh water swamps and bogs. Heavy cutting for many commercial uses during this century has considerably reduced even the largest stands so that the total volume of this species growing...

Fraser Fir, A Common Tree in North America

Fraser fir is a high-altitude tree and related to the northern Balsam fir. Abies fraseri occupies a very restricted native range in higher locations in the southern Appalachian mountains. Interestingly, this tree is commonly planted at lower elevations for ornamental and Christmas tree purposes and may lead to its ultimate salvation. Acid rain...

Douglas Fir - 100 Most Common North American Trees

A walk-through description and guide to identifying Douglas fir or Pseudotsuga menziesii. Find out more about the tree's habit, range, silviculture and management.