Bot. [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. Dasent, Three to One, I. 20 Smooth lawns on which rare shrubs and conifers flourished.
