with needles that are …

___ flat, flexible  or

⍋ stiff and sharp, ◼︎♦ 4-sided[?], and twig=rough where needles fall off
spruce  genus Picea    or

◯ round with axial groves, segmented, tips have projections, looks like 🐎︎ ⫴ horsehair
🇦🇺 Australian pine or beach she-oak  Casuarina equisetifolia :

║ Needles are ___ flat and flexible

and splay out from their stem …

left + right + up + down + all angles  or

left + right a little more than up + down + all angles
fir  genus Abies    or

left + right (pretty much exclusively) :

║ Needles splay left + right + up + down + all angles

branchlets droop;  buds=∧ pointed red-brown
Douglas-fir  Pseudotsuga menziesii

║ Needles splay left + right pretty much exclusively

needle undersurface=whitish,
needle lengths differ from each other along stem,
shed separately,
arranged ╟ alternate
hemlock  genus Tsuga    or

needle undersurface=not whitish,
needles shorter toward end of twig,
shed together with twig (look at base of tree),
arranged ╟ alternate[?]
bald cypress  Taxodium distichum
needle undersurface=not whitish,
needles shorter toward end of twig,
shed together with twig (look at base of tree),
arranged ╫ opposite[?]
dawn redwood  Metasequoia glyptostroboides

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🏠︎ 🌲︎ conifer  order Pinales

fir  genus Abies
hemlock  genus Tsuga

Douglas-fir  Pseudotsuga menziesii