Domain Eucarya or Superkindgom Eukaryota
Kingdom Plantae
Division Coniferophyta aka Pinophyta
(Class Pinopsida)
A widespread division of the plant kingdom, containing about 600 species in 68 genera, 7 or 8 families and 3 orders. Conifers are the familiar evergreen plants which can be found everywhere in the world except sub-Saharan West Africa. Conifers, like other vascular plants, are dominated by their sporophyte generation: The gametophytes consist entirely of pollen (male) and ovules (female) which develop in woody strobiles called 'cones'. Pollen is dispersed via the wind, or by animals, reaching a female cone where the ovules are fertilized. The zygotes develope into 'seeds' which are released from the cones as they dry out (in some conifers, special conditions such as forest fires are required for the cones to open).
Conifers developed in the late Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) Period, and survived the Permian-Triassic mass exctinction to become a significant component of the Earth's vegetation during the Mesozoic. As flowering plants (Magnoliophyta) began to spread during the Cretaceous and into the Cenozoic, conifers were pushed into environments that were too harsh for flowering plants: arctic and subarctic conditions, harsh soils, high alpine conditions. Of course, these may be the very environments the Cycadophyta and Bennettitophyta pushed conifers into during the Mesozoic Era.
Order Cordaitales existed from the late Carboniferous through the Permian Period and appears to contain the common ancestor of all other conifers.
Order Pinales:
- Family Araucariaceae
- Agathis (21) (Indonesia, Melanesia, Australia, Philippines)
- Araucaria (19: Araucaria, Monkey puzzle, Norfolk Island Pine) (Australia, New Guinea, Melanesia, New Zealand, South America)
- Wollemia (1) (Wollemi National Park, Australia)
- Family Cupressaceae
- Actinostrobus (3: cypress-pine) (vicinity of Perth, Australia)
- Austrocedrus (1: Chilean cedar or cypress) (South Andes)
- Callitris (19: Australian cypress) (Australia and New Caledonia)
- Calocedrus (3) (Western United States, Mexico, Southwest China, Myanmar, Taiwan)
- Chamaecyparis (5: Cypress; arborvitae; white-cedar; hinoki) (North America, Japan, Taiwan)
- Cupressus (12-24: cypress) (Western United States, Mexico, Central America, Morocco to Vietnam)
- Diselma (1) (Tasmania)
- Fitzroya (1: Alerce, Lahuan) (South Chile and Argentina)
- Fokenia (1: Po Mu) (Southeast China and North Vietnam)
- Juniperus (50: Juniper or red-cedar) (Northern Hemispehere, East Africa)
- Libocedrus (5: Kawaka, Kaikawaka) (New Zealand, New Caledonia)
- Microbiota (1) (Siberia)
- Neocalliptropsis (1) (New Caledonia)
- Papuacedrus (1: lots of tribal names) (New Guinea, Moluccas)
- Pilgerodendron (1: Ciprès de la Guaitecas) (Sub-andean Chile and Argentina)
- Platycladus (1: Chinese Arborvitae) (Siberia, Korea, China)
- Tetraclinus (1: Gharghar, Alerce) (Western Mediterannean)
- Thuja (5: Arborvitae or red-cedar) (North America, East Asia)
- Thujopsis (1: Asuhi) (Japan)
- Widdringtonia (3: Cypress Pine) (South Africa)
- Xanthocyparis (2) (Pacific Northwest, Vietnam)
- Family Pinaceae
- Abies (51: fir) (Subtropical, temperate, subarctic Northern Hemisphere)
- Cathaya (1) (south-central China)
- Cedrus (4: true cedar) (Mountains of south and southeast Mediterranean)
- Keteleeria (14) (South China, Laos, Vietnam, Taiwan)
- Larix (11: larch, tamarack) (Subarctic Northern Hemisphere, stretching to temperate zone)
- Nothotsuga (1: Bristlecone Hemlock) (South China)
- Picea (33: spruce) (Temperate and subarctic Northern Hemisphere)
- Pinus (112: Pine) (Northern Hemisphere; also Malaya and Sumatra)
- Pseudolarix (1: Golden Larch) (China)
- Pseudotsuga (7-22: Douglas-Fir) (North America, Japan, China)
- Tsuga (8-9: Hemlock) (Temperate North America, Himalayas, and East Asia)
- Family Sciadopityaceae:
- Family Taxodiaceae appear to be paraphyletic with respect to the Cupressaceae but if you combined the two families, the genera listed under Cupressaceae would still have a common ancestor from a single branch of the larger tree.
Order Podocarpales:
- Family Podocarpaceae
- Acmopyle (2) (New Caledonia, Fiji)
- Afrocarpus (6) (Eastern and southern Africa)
- Dacrycarpus (9) (Southeast Asia, Indonesia, New Guinea, Philippines, Melanesia)
- Dacrydium (16) (Southeast Asia, Indonesia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Chile, Philippines, Melanesia)
- Falcatifolium (5) (Malaysiz, Northern Indonesia, Philipines)
- Halocarpus (3) (New Zealand)
- Lagarostrobos (1: Macquarie Pine) (Australia and Tasmania)
- Lepidothamnus (3) (Chile, New Zealand)
- Manoao (1: Manoao or Westland pine) (New Zealand)
- Microcachrys (1) (Western Tasmania)
- Microstrobos (2) (New South Wales and Tasmania)
- Nageia (6) (pantropical)
- Parasitaxus (1: Corail) (New Caledonia)
- Phyllocladus (5: Celery top pine) (Northeastern INdonesia, Philippines, New Guinea, NEw Zealand, Tasmania)
- Podocarpus (105: Podocarps, e.g. Yellowwood) (Temperate to subarctic Southern Hemisphere)
- Prumnopitys (9) (Australia, New Zealand, South America, Costa Rica)
- Retrophyllum (5) (Melanesia, New Caledonia, Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia)
- Saxegothaea (1) (Sumatra, East Indonesia, Melanesia, Philippines, Queensland)
Order Taxales:
The Gymnosperm Database, Edited by Christopher J. Earle
http://www.conifers.org/ or http://www.botanik.uni-bonn.de/conifers/