CONIFERS are vascular seed plants carried by a cone-shaped structure ("conifers" means "cone-bearing") that have exactly the same function as flowers but are not flowers. They appeared on Earth 300 million years ago, well before deciduous trees. All existing conifers are woody plants, the vast majority of which are trees, the others being shrubs. The most widespread CONIFERS are cedar, cypress, fir, juniper, larch, pine, redwood, spruce and yew. Only about 650 species of conifers remain today.