with needles that are …

___ flat and pliable  or

■ 4-sided, | stiff and sharp, and twig=rough where needles fall off
spruce  genus Picea  or

◯ round with axial groves, segmented, tips have projections, looks like horse hair
🇦🇺 Australian pine  Casuarina equisetifolia :

Needles are ___ flat and pliable

and splay …
left + right + up + down + all angles  or
left + right :

Needles splay left + right

undersurface=not whitish;  shorter toward end of twig, shed with them
bald cypress  Taxodium distichum

undersurface=whitish;  lengths differ from each other;  western North America
western hemlock  Tsuga heterophylla
undersurface=whitish;  lengths differ from each other;  eastern North America
eastern hemlock  Tsuga canadensis

undersurface=whitish;  northern Canada or USA;  fragrant
balsam fir  Abies balsamea
undersurface=whitish;  USA 🗻︎ Appalachia
Fraser fir  Abies fraseri