What is a False Conifer?
A forest of tamarack trees turning yellow in autumn.
A “false conifer” is still a conifer, it is just a deciduous conifer.
There is some confusion as to what the terms conifer, evergreen, and deciduous mean in botany. So let’s dissect them one by one.
A conifer is simply a term used to describe a woody plant that reproduces by cones. There are over 600 species of conifers in the world, and they are ecologically important because they cover vast areas of land, particularly in arctic regions and in cooler mountain climates.
Conifer leaves are specially adapted in order to survive cooler temperatures and dryer climates.
Leaves have stomata, like pores in our skin, that regulate water and gas intake and evaporation.
Deciduous means “to shed,” for example our baby teeth are deciduous. Trees shed their leaves in autumn so that they do not lose moisture or succumb to disease and pests during their dormant winter months.
Most conifers are able to close the stomata in their leaves so that nothing can enter their open stomata in the winter and moisture can not escape.
False conifers cannot close their stomata, so they shed their leaves instead, and this is what keeps them protected during the cold cold days and nights.
However, not all conifers are evergreens, and not all evergreens are conifers.
One of the most important lessons I learned about plants was that plants don’t care about human classifications and they don’t read the plant identification books. They do what they need to do to survive even if it means crossing into territory and habits uncommon for their species.
Bald cypress trees have many unique adaptaions, they have aerial roots that allow them to grow in water, and they shed their needle-leaves in fall.
A magnolia is an evergreen tree, but it reproduces with large showy flowers. And a bald cypress is a conifer, but its leaves turn orange and fall off, even for the mild winters of Louisiana.
False conifers shed their needle leaves in fall for the same reason maples and oaks do- to protect themselves from the harshness of winter. Some people assume that a tree is suffering when its leaves lose their green and start to fall off, but that is not the case.
Several well known species of “false conifers” are known throughout North America. Most notably, the bald cypress, tamarack (aka larch), and dawn redwoods.
A Magnolia tree covered in snow.
