Conifers are seed plants all producing woody stems and are widely used as a tree species suitable for bonsai and belong for the most part to the Phylum Coniferophyta and are gymnosperms which belong to the larger Phylum Pinophyta. This currently encompasses the Ginkgo as part of Ginkgophyta and the Ginkgo is like a living fossil, however it has few characteristics in common with the majority of conifers but more closely related to conifers than any other phylum.
The definition according to Wikipedia is:-
“The conifers, division Pinophyta, also known as division Coniferophyta or Coniferae, are one of 10 extant division-level taxa within the Kingdom Plantae. Pinophytes are gymnosperms. They are cone-bearing seed plants with vascular tissue; all extant conifers are woody plants, the great majority being trees with just a few being shrubs. Typical examples of conifers include cedars, Douglas-firs, cypresses, firs, junipers, kauri, larches, pines, hemlocks, redwoods, spruces, and yews.[1] The division contains approximately eight families, 68 genera, and 630 living species.”
Here are a selection of the Conifers on display recently at the Wessex Open Competition in Bournmouth in May 2014 and a wide variety of Conifer species were being shown including a native Yew and the native Scots Pine.
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