What are conifers?
Conifers are trees that bear their seeds in cones. The vast majority of conifers have needle-like or scale-like leaves. Most conifer species are evergreen, but not all. Our Metasequoia and Taxodiums are deciduous.
Conifers are an ancient group of plants, splitting off from close relatives like ginkgos and cycads more than 300 million years ago.
Conifers were dinosaur food...
Conifers flourished in the Triassic period, millions of years before some of the other plants we have in the park had evolved. The conifer species that remain today are living fossils of ancient times, having survived ice ages, meteor strikes and climate change.
Where are they found?
Today, there are about 615 conifer species. The vast northern hemisphere forests are dominated by conifers, but they can be found in all kinds of temperate, arid and tropical ecosystems, such as shrublands, savannas, and even swamps.
Conifers found in the park
Spruces
have stiff, sharp, rather short needles
Spruces in the park include
Picea abies - Norway spruce
Picea orientalis 'Aurea' - golden spruce
True pines
have flexible, long needles growing in bunches
Pines in the park include
Pinus halepensis - Aleppo or lone pine
Pinus pinea - stone pine
Pinus thunbergii - black pine
Cedars
have soft flexible and flattish needles
Cedars in the park include
Cedrus atlantica ‘Glauca’ - Blue atlas cedar
Cedrus deodara - Himalayan cedar
Cedrus deodara ‘Aurea’- Golden cedar
Cypresses
have scale-like leaves arranged in decussate pairs or whorls
Cypresses in the park include
Metasequoia glyptostoboides - Dawn redwood
Sequoia sempervirens - Coast redwood
Sequoiadendron giganteum - Giant sequoia, Sierra redwood
Sequoiadendron giganteum ‘Pendulum’ - Weeping giant redwood
Taxodium distichum - Swamp or bald cypress
Taxodium mucronatum - Montezuma bald cypress
Podocarps
have flat, dark-green, lanceolate leaves
Podocarps in the park include
Afrocarpus falcatus - Yellow-wood
Podocarpus elatus - Illawarra plum pine
Podocarpus lawrencei - Mountain plum pine
Araucariaceae
have small needle-like, or large, broadly ovate leaves
Araucariaceae in the park include
Agathis robusta - Queensland Kauri
Araucaria bidwillii - Bunya pine
Araucaria cunninghamii - Hoop pine
Araucaria heterophylla (syn A. excelsa) - Norfolk Island pine
Wollemia nobillis - Wollemi pine
Use this link to go to our plant catalogue sorted by coniferous plants
Contact the Friends of Mossvale Park using this form.
For all general Park inquiries and bookings please contact the Shire of South Gippsland on https://www.southgippsland.vic.gov.au/ContactUs