Conifers are a group of cone bearing plants that produce seeds without flowers or fruit.

Almost all conifer species are trees, while a few are shrubs.

Conifer forests dominate much of the Northern Hemisphere from the southern edge of the tundra until you reach the temperate regions.

This area of much of Canada, mid-Alaska, and much of Russia is called the Taiga. Generally speaking, “conifers are considered evergreens (meaning they retain their leaves (needles) throughout the winter.)

There are exceptions of which you may be familiar. The larch (tamarack) and bald cypress lose all their needles as winter approaches. They are conifers, but not evergreens. But, remember, even the conifers that retain needles, probably only retain about half of their needles for winter. Anyone, who took a picnic basket and blanket and found a shady pine grove, knows there is an inviting covering of pine needles waiting for you on the forest floor. Conifers shed leaves, like maples, but not all of them.

Conifers can be identified by how the needles are arranged on a twig, by the number of needles in a bundle, by the bark, and also by their different cone shapes.

Conifers have both “female” cones and “male” cones. Since wind carries the pollen, you would assume that the male cones, producing the pollen, would be at the top of the trees, and the female cones at the bottom. But to avoid as much self-pollination as possible, that is usually reversed.

Pines, in particular, produce tremendous amounts of pollen. If you have a vehicle parked outside in late spring, you may notice that in a day’s time the hood, windshield, and if you left windows open, even the dashboard has a yellowish dusty covering. I’ve even seen this pollen film covering the water surface of coves in our local reservoirs in the early morning hours.

Conifers have great value for their soft wood (pine boards), for pulpwood in paper making, and since coniferous forests of the Taiga cover such a large area of our earth’s surface, they capture crucial excess carbon dioxide from the air. Let’s not forget that so many of the migrating birds, especially warblers, that we see in spring, do most of their nesting in these great northern coniferous forests. On your nature walks take note of the varieties of conifers, look for their dropped needles in early October, and know that their thin, waxy needles allow them to withstand winter’s cold, harsh, drying winds. Get out there.

Test Your Outdoor Knowledge: Upgraded from the endangered species list to the threatened list in 2019, the _____ continues its population gains. A. great horned owl B. bobcat C. peregrine falcon D. garter snake.

Last Week’s Trivia Answer: Declining steadily in numbers in the last few decades, the northern goshawk was just placed on the endangered species list in Pennsylvania.