Pinaceae

Thesaurus

Noun

Pinaceae - a family of Pinaceae family Pinaceae, pine familygymnosperm family - a family of gymnospermsConiferales, order Coniferales - profusely branching and chiefly evergreen trees and some shrubs having narrow or needlelike leavesgenus Pinus, Pinus - type genus of the Pinaceae: large genus of true pinesgenus Larix, Larix - larchesgenus Pseudolarix, Pseudolarix - one species: golden larchAbies, genus Abies - true firsCedrus, genus Cedrus - true cedarsgenus Picea, Picea - a genus of temperate and Arctic evergreen trees (see spruce)genus Tsuga, Tsuga - hemlock; hemlock fir; hemlock sprucegenus Pseudotsuga, Pseudotsuga - douglas fir; closely related to genera Larix and Cathayagenus Cathaya - one species; related to Pseudotsuga and Larixgenus Keteleeria - a genus of keteleeria

Pinaceae

(pine), a family of coniferous gymnospermous plants, including evergreen or, less commonly, deciduous (Larix) trees and some shrubs. The leaves are linear-lanceolate, linear, needle-shaped, or scale-like; they are borne singly on the principal shoots or are in groups of two to five (Pinus) or more (Cedrus and Larix) at the ends of short lateral shoots. The microstrobiles, which are for the most part red or yellow, are arranged in groups or are solitary. The pollen has two or, less commonly, no air sacs (Larix, Tsuga). The woody cones, which range in length from 1.5 to 50 cm, mature in the first year (Larix) or, more commonly, in the second or third year. The cones decompose on the tree (Abies) or fall to the ground; the seed scales are thick, free, and spirally arranged in the axil of the bract, which may be unnoticeable (Pinus) or may be longer than the seed scale (Abies). The seeds often have a membranous wing.

The Pinaceae are wind-pollinated monoecious plants with unisexual cones. The roots have mycorrhizae. There are ten or 11 genera, with about 250 species, distributed mainly in the temperate zone of the northern hemisphere. Taiga forests have a predominance of Pinaceae species. Valuable timber is furnished by the trees, especially by fir, spruce, pine, and larch species. The needles serve as raw material for the commercial production of vitamin C.

REFERENCE

Takhtadzhian, A. L. Vysshie rasteniia, vol. 1. Moscow-Leningrad, 1956.

T. G. LEONOVA

Pinaceae

Related to Pinaceae: Taxodiaceae, pine cones

noun

Synonyms for Pinaceae

noun a family of Pinaceae

Synonyms

family Pinaceae
pine family

Related Words

gymnosperm family
Coniferales
order Coniferales
genus Pinus
Pinus
genus Larix
Larix
genus Pseudolarix
Pseudolarix
Abies
genus Abies
Cedrus
genus Cedrus
genus Picea
Picea
genus Tsuga
Tsuga
genus Pseudotsuga
Pseudotsuga
genus Cathaya
genus Keteleeria