Have you ever wondered why some trees shed their foliage in the autumn? Or why a Christmas tree has fine needles instead of leaves? The answer is that these are two different types of trees. Generally, trees fall under two primary categories; deciduous and coniferous. The deciduous varieties will drop their leaves in the fall but your coniferous Christmas tree will retain its needles all year long.
Deciduous and coniferous trees are all around you in Tampa. Knowing the difference will help you not only better appreciate your natural surroundings but also make informed landscaping decisions.
Here, we comprehensively compare deciduous vs coniferous trees by highlighting their most distinctive characteristics so you can have a better understanding of the two. If you just moved to Tampa, however, and looking to add some trees to your property, we recommend working with an expert. That way, you will know which conifers or deciduous trees grow best in your garden based on the available space, soil type, and the purpose you hope to achieve; and any professional tree service in Tampa can help you with this.
The Differences Between Deciduous and Coniferous Trees
Leaves
Deciduous Trees
Since deciduous trees drop their foliage each year, they need to absorb enough sunlight during the seasons when they have the leaves. For this reason, most deciduous trees have broad flat leaves, as these help them take in the sufficient light they need for photosynthesis.
These trees will only survive in areas where there is adequate water and warmth, mostly in temperate and tropical climates. They lose their leaves depending on the variations in rainfall. In temperate or polar climates, where there is less sunlight in the winter, for instance, the trees drop their foliage in the winter. Where water is scarce like in the tropical, subtropical, or arid/semi-arid areas, the trees shed their leaves during the dry seasons.
When the trees lose their leaves, they don’t make any food, hence, no growth happens at this time. The trees start growing again and producing new leaves only when the temperatures rise and there is enough rainfall.
Conifers
Unlike deciduous trees, conifers have needle-like or flat-scale-like leaves. These leaves are long and compact and can last for several years before falling off. They are coated with wax to keep the water stored inside the needles from evaporating and to protect the leaves from ultraviolet light. This coating has also been found to make the leaves sturdier and less palatable for birds, animals, and pests.
The leaves of coniferous trees are more windproof and more waterproof than the broad flat leaves of their deciduous siblings. Their dark green color helps them absorb maximum energy from the little sunlight received in the winter, keeping the process of photosynthesis going, although at a slower rate. Conifers growing in regions of hotter climate where there is adequate sunlight usually have bright green leaves.
Flower Production and Fall Colors
Most deciduous trees produce flowers when they are leafless. And since the absence of leaves makes the flowers more visible to insects, pollination is also enhanced, which encourages fruit production. Come fall, the foliage of most deciduous trees turn fiery orange, brilliant red, reddish-brown, or golden-yellow before falling to the ground. Conifers do not produce flowers, neither do their leaves change color in the fall.
Fruits and Seeds
Deciduous Trees
Leaf shedding and fall colors are perhaps the most notable differences between deciduous and coniferous trees, but these don’t tell the whole story. There are still more ways to compare conifers vs deciduous trees, like how they reproduce, for instance.
Deciduous trees bear hard capsules or fruits that contain seeds, usually protected by a hard shell. Birds and animals eat these seeds and disperse them through their droppings, often at a place further away from the parent plant. The seeds germinate and new trees grow in this new spot without the shadow of the parent tree, which could hinder sun penetration and effective growth of the baby trees.
Conifers
Coniferous trees do not bear fruits; they reproduce via sharp-toothed cones instead. The cone contains seeds and unlike in deciduous trees where the seeds have a protective shell, conifers’ seeds are bare. To reproduce, the cone opens its scales, letting the seeds out. Animals disperse these seeds to different locations, giving rise to new conifers.
Shape
Deciduous Trees
Deciduous trees usually spread out as they grow, forming a more rounded shape than their coniferous counterparts. They spread their leaves out and wide to create a large surface area for sunlight absorption.
Conifers
Coniferous trees, as the name hints, resemble a cone. They extend upward more than they do outward, acquiring a triangular shape. This unique shape enables them to shed snow, preventing their limbs from breaking due to the weight of the snow.
Soil conditions
Deciduous Trees
When it comes to comparing conifers vs deciduous trees, soil nutrition is an important factor because these two tree types require different conditions for growth. Most deciduous trees, for instance, grow in places where soils are relatively nutritious. This is because they need to take in enough nutrients to produce new leaves in the spring.
During fall, the leaves dropped above the roots decompose, adding nutrients to the soil. Basically, when the tree sheds its foliage, most of its energy is utilized by its roots to prepare it for new growth. And since the leaves of deciduous trees are generally alkaline, the soil underneath also becomes more alkaline.
Conifers
The needle litter produced by conifers has a higher concentration of carbon and nitrogen than that produced by deciduous leaves, which makes the soil acidic. Usually, this soil contains low mineral content and organic material. And since conifers do not lose all their leaves at once, they really don’t require an enormous amount of nutrients in the spring, meaning, even under low mineral content, these trees will still grow massively in the spring.
The Takeaway
If you grew up believing that the only way to tell deciduous and coniferous trees apart is by their leaf structure or fall shedding, now you know there is more to the story. Our comparison between deciduous vs coniferous trees paints a clearer picture of these two distinctive tree types and can help you decide the best variety to use for landscaping.