When we call a tree coniferous, we mean it is the kind that has thin, sharp leaves like needles, and that grows brown cones with seeds inside. Pine, fir, spruce, and cedar are the trees people think of first. You can also say a coniferous forest — a wood made mostly of these trees. Though actually, the everyday word for the tree itself is conifer; coniferous is the describing word (a coniferous tree, coniferous woodland). Most of these trees keep their needles in winter, so they stay green when other trees go bare — but a few, like the larch, do drop their needles. The word belongs more to science class, geography, and nature writing than to chat; at home people often just say pine trees, or loosely evergreen trees, though evergreen also covers leafy trees that are not conifers at all.