Coniferales

=Description=
 * Woody shrubs, climbers or trees**, wood vesselless (instead they have transport cells called trachids), with resin. Sometimes with flattened, leaf like twigs (//Phyllocladus//).
 * Leaves** simple, usually alternate and spiral, some groups with leaves in bundles (//Pinus//) or with opposite leaves (//Agathis, Gnetum//, //Nageia//), entire, often needle or scale like with parallel veins.
 * Flowers** unisexual, often in cone-like structures, or female flowers simple (//Podocarpaceae, Taxus//).

=General info=
 * Distribution** Worldwide, but mainly temperate and boreal. In the tropics usually at higher elevations. Only few genera common in tropical lowlands, like //Agathis, Nageia, Gnetum, Podocarpus// (all groups with leaf-shaped leaves).
 * Ecology** Well adapted to cooler temperatures, but due to their less efficient photosynthesis they are outcompeted in the lowlands by the angiosperms. Pollination usually by wind, while seed dispersal may be by wind or birds.
 * Uses** Timber, resin, turpentine, some ornamentals.
 * Similar to** Casuarinaceae, but these have jointed twigs and true flowers.

=Treated genera=
 * Araucaria
 * Pinus
 * Podocarpus
 * Gnetum

Araucaria sp

Pinus silvestris

Podocarpus wallichiana

Gnetum gnemon