A conifer is a tree belonging to the cone bearing order Coniferales. These trees with needles or scale-like leaves are very different from hardwood trees which have broad, flat leaves and usually without cones.
Also called evergreens, these perennial trees normally keep foliage or needles through the entire year. The notable exceptions are baldcypress and tamarack which shed needles annually.
These "softwood" trees usually bear cones and include pines, spruces, firs, and cedars. Wood hardness varies among the conifer species, and some are actually harder than some hardwoods.
1. Baldcypress
Rebecca Merrilees, Illustrator
Tree associates of baldcypress include water tupelo (Nyssa aquatica), swamp tupelo (N. sylvatica var. biflora), red maple (Acer rubrum), sweetbay (Magnolia virginiana), southern magnolia (M. grandifolia), sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua), and various oaks Quercus spp.), ashes (Fraxinus spp.), and pines Pinus spp.)
2. Cedar, Alaska
S. Porse/Wikimedia Commons
Alaska-cedar occasionally grows in pure stands but is usually found singly or in scattered groups mixed with other tree species. Associated species change with latitude but can grow alongside spruces, firs, pines, and hemlocks.
3. Cedar, Atlantic White
Rebecca Merrilees, Illustrator
Because Atlantic white-cedar grows characteristically in pure stands it is found mostly in one forest cover type, Atlantic White-Cedar (Society of American Foresters Type 97). It is also listed as an associate in six other types: Pitch Pine (Type 45); Slash Pine-Hardwood (Type 85); Baldcypress (Type 101); Water Tupelo-Swamp Tupelo (Type 103); Baldcypress-Tupelo (Type 102); Sweetbay-Swamp Tupelo-Redbay (Type104).
4. Cedar, Northern White (arborvitae)
Rebecca Merrilees, Illustrator
The northern white-cedar type commonly includes some balsam fir (Abies balsamea) and tamarack (Larix laricina) in the boreal region of Canada but tends to be mixed with additional species farther south. Balsam fir, black spruce (Picea mariana), white spruce (P. glauca), red spruce (P. rubens), tamarack, black ash (Fraxinus nigra), and red maple (Acer rubrum) are common associates on the wetter sites, especially swamps. Yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis), paper birch (B. papyrifera), quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides), bigtooth aspen (P. grandidentata), balsam poplar (P. balsamifera), eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis), and eastern white pine (Pinus strobus) are common on the better drained sites, especially uplands.
5. Cedar, Port-Orford
R. Hunt/Wikimedia Commons
Port-Orford-cedar is found with an extremely wide variety of associated plants and vegetation types. It usually grows in mixed stands and is important in the Picea sitchensis, Tsuga heterophylla, mixed evergreen, and Abies concolor vegetation zones of Oregon and their counterparts in California.
6. Douglas-fir
Wherever Douglas-fir grows in mixture with other species, the proportion may vary greatly, depending on aspect, elevation, kind of soil, and the past history of an area, especially as it relates to fire. This is particularly true of the mixed conifer stands in the southern Rocky Mountains where Douglas-fir is associated with ponderosa pine, southwestern white pine (Pinus strobiformis), corkbark fir (Abies lasiocarpa var. arizonica), white fir (Abies concolor), blue spruce (Picea pungens), Engelmann spruce, and aspen (Populus spp.).
7. Fir, Balsam
USFS/Bugwood.org
Tree species associated with balsam fir in the boreal region of Canada are black spruce (Picea mariana), white spruce (Picea glauca), paper birch (Betula papyrifera), and quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides). In the more southerly northern forest region, additional associates include bigtooth aspen (Populus grandidentata), yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis), American beech (Fagus grandifolia), red maple (Acer rubrum), sugar maple (Acer saccharum), eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis), eastern white pine (Pinus strobus), tamarack (Larix laricina), black ash (Fraxinus nigra), and northern white-cedar (Thuja occidentalis).
8. Fir, California Red
R. Merrilees, Illustrator
Red fir is found in seven forest cover types of western North America. It is in pure stands or as a major component in Red Fir (Society of American Foresters Type 207, and also in the following types: Mountain Hemlock (Type 205), White Fir (Type 211), Lodgepole Pine (Type 218), Pacific Douglas-Fir (Type 229), Sierra Nevada Mixed Conifer (Type 243), and California Mixed Subalpine (Type 256).
9. Fir, Fraser
Fraser fir is a component of four forest cover types (10): Pin Cherry (Society of American Foresters Type 17), Red Spruce-Yellow Birch (Type 30), Red Spruce (Type 32), and Red Spruce-Fraser Fir (Type 34).
10. Fir, Grand
R. Merrilees Illustrator
Grand fir is represented in 17 forest cover types of western North America: it is the predominant species in only one, Grand Fir (Society of American Foresters Type 213). It is a major component of six other cover types: Western Larch (Type 212), Western White Pine (Type 215), Interior Douglas-Fir (Type 210), Western Hemlock (Type 224), Western Redcedar (Type 228), and Western Redcedar-Western Hemlock (Type 227). Grand fir appears sporadically in 10 other cover types.
