Trees or shrubs with a resinous juice. The wood differs from that of dicotyledons in that it is destitute of ducts, but has instead bordered disks. The leaves are usually fascicled, and are mostly awl- or needle-shaped. Fruit a cone or galbulus.

A Manual of Organic Materia Medica and Pharmacognosy, 1917, was written by Lucius E. Sayre, B.S. Ph. M.