conifer Bot.
(ˈkəʊnɪfə(r))
[mod. ad. L. cōnifer cone-bearing, f. cōn-us cone + -fer bearing. So F. conifère. Instead of the popular plural conifers, the scientific Coniferæ is often used.]
A plant belonging to the Coniferæ, a large and important order of gymnospermous exogens, comprising trees (mostly evergreen) bearing cones.
| [1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. xxiv. (1495) 617 Cypresse are namyd and callid Conefore.] 1851 G. A. Mantell Petrifactions 53 The conifers are all arborescent. 1867 Emerson May-Day, etc. Wks. (Bohn) III. 420 Three conifers, white, pitch, and Norway pine. 1872 G. W. Dasent Three to One I. 20 Smooth lawns on which rare shrubs and conifers flourished. |