conifer
(noun)
a plant belonging to the conifers; a cone-bearing seed plant with vascular tissue, usually a tree
Examples of conifer in the following topics:
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Life Cycle of a Conifer
- Conifers are monoecious plants that produce both male and female cones, each making the necessary gametes used for fertilization.
- Pine trees are conifers (cone bearing) and carry both male and female sporophylls on the same mature sporophyte.
- In the life cycle of a conifer, the sporophyte (2n) phase is the longest phase.
- This image shows the life cycle of a conifer.
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Diversity of Gymnosperms
- Conifers are the dominant phylum of gymnosperms, with the most variety of species .
- Adaptations to cold and dry weather explain the predominance of conifers at high altitudes and in cold climates.
- Conifers include familiar evergreen trees such as pines, spruces, firs, cedars, sequoias, and yews.
- The European larch and the tamarack are examples of deciduous conifers.
- Conifers are the dominant form of vegetation in cold or arid environments and at high altitudes.
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Evolution of Gymnosperms
- Gingkoales and the more familiar conifers also dotted the landscape.
- This boreal forest (taiga) has low-lying plants and conifer trees, as these plants are better suited to the colder, dryer conditions.
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Sexual Reproduction in Gymnosperms
- In conifers such as pines, the green leafy part of the plant is the sporophyte; the cones contain the male and female gametophytes .
- This image shows the life cycle of a conifer.
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The Major Divisions of Land Plants
- Seed-producing plants include gymnosperms, most notably conifers, which produce "naked seeds," and the most successful of all modern-day plants, angiosperms, which are the flowering plants.
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Boreal Forests and Arctic Tundra
- When conifer needles are dropped, they decompose more slowly than do broad leaves; therefore, fewer nutrients are returned to the soil to fuel plant growth.
- The boreal forest (taiga) has low-lying plants and conifer trees; it often consists of only a tree layer and a ground layer.
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Mycorrhizae: The Symbiotic Relationship between Fungi and Roots
- This type of mycorrhizae is found in forest trees, especially conifers, birches, and oaks.
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Characteristics of Gymnosperms
- Conifers have sperm that do not have flagella, but instead are conveyed to the egg via a pollen tube.
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Pollination by Bats, Birds, Wind, and Water
- Most species of conifers and many angiosperms, such as grasses, maples, and oaks, are pollinated by wind.