As a subset of the Phylum Gymnosperm, the division of Pinophyta, and in the Class Pinosida, there are four extant (living) Orders: Araucariales, Cupressales, Pinales and Gnetales, and at least three extinct orders: Cordaitales, Palissyales, and Voltziales.

Contained in these four extant orders, there are ten families, about 60-65 genera and some 650 extant species.

All of these six hundred plus species have the characteristics of being: perennial woody plants, most are trees with a few being shrubs, vascular (having a system of channels for carrying fluids, such as sap), cone bearing seed producing and non-flowering

Although the total number of species is relatively small, the class of Pinopsida, commonly called conifers are ecologically important. This is because they are the dominant plants over large areas of land, most notably the taiga (commonly called the boreal and/or snow forest) of the Northern Hemisphere, but also in similar cool climates in mountains further south.

Boreal conifers have many wintertime survival adaptations. The primary adaptations of these northern conifers is there form, which is a narrow inverted conical shape, together with their downward-drooping limbs, all helps them shed snow. Many of them seasonally alter their biochemistry to make them more resistant to freezing.

While tropical rainforests have more biodiversity and turnover, the immense conifer forests of the world represent the largest terrestrial carbon sink. Conifers are of great economic value for softwood lumber and paper production.

The Podocarpaceae family is a large division of mainly Southern Hemisphere conifers, known in English as podocarps, with about 156 species of evergreen trees and shrubs. Their are a total of 19 genera if Phyllocladus is included and Manoao and Sundacarpus are recognized.

The family achieved its maximum diversity in the Cenozoic, making the Podocarpaceae family one of the most diverse in the southern hemisphere.

The species Parasitaxus usta is unique as it is the only known parasitic gymnosperm. It is found on New Caledonia, where it is parasitic on another member of the Podocarpaceae, the species Falcatifolium taxoides.

The family is a classic member of the Antarctic flora, with its main centres of diversity in Australasia, particularly New Caledonia, Tasmania, and New Zealand, and to a slightly lesser extent Malesia and South America (primarily in the Andes Mountains).

Several genera extend north of the equator into Indochina and the Philippines. Podocarpus reaches as far north as southern Japan and southern China in Asia, as well as Mexico in the Americas, and Nageia into southern China and southern India. Two genera also occur in sub-Saharan Africa, the widespread Podocarpus and the endemic Afrocarpus.

A large evergreen tree, from 35 to 200 feet in height, with a trunk diameter from 5 to 55 inches in diameter. The leaves are 2 to 6 inches long but quite narrow.

Native to parts of Australia, New Guinea much of Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.