conifer

6 4.6

A tree like a pine or fir that makes cones and usually has needles

noun
/ˈkɒnɪfər/

: conífera

One-quarter to one-half of the soil fungi in conifer forests busy themselves breaking down the dead organic matter around them.
conifer forest
conifer trees
mixed conifer

Oh boy, there's the ancient tree conifer.

Examples

So because these are a lowland conifer, the Cedars really like that damp soil.
Here, almost all of the trees are conifers, and the understory of flowering plants is not as varied and dense.

Academic text (1998)
Are you a conifer or a fruit-bearing tree?

Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018)
"We may have lost 20 percent of our range to conifers," says Walker.

Academic text (1995)
Even some of the conifers on the edges of the forest died.

Fiction book (1990)
They would all have these different hardwood and conifer species in them.
Not a soul in sight, just me and a row of young, newly planted conifers.

Fiction book (1997)
What most amazes me is that it is a conifer, one of the true cypresses.

Academic text (1991)
The woods were deep and heavy with the moist pungency of conifers and loam.

Fiction book (1992)
In the winter, the landscape is dominated by tall conifers standing lush against the snow.

Synonyms

coniferous tree

vsconifer

1 3.9

A tree with needle-like leaves that has cones, like a pine or spruce

belongs to the gymnosperm group defined by cone production and leaf type

Surface Forms

conifer singular

conifers plural

Morphology

conifer = cone (semi-transparent) = cone + fer

The component 'cone' is recognizable and related to the meaning, but the combining element '-fer' ('bearing') is a Latin combining form not productive or familiar to average learners, so the relation is only partially transparent.

Etymology

Conifer comes from the Latin parts conus 'cone' and ferre 'to carry'. So a conifer is literally a 'cone-bearer', which helps explain why these trees, like pines and firs, make cones instead of flowers.