The following points highlight the top eleven economic uses of Coniferales. The economic uses are: 1. Wood 2. Canada Balsam 3. Resins, Rosins and Turpentines 4. Spruce Gum 5. Copals 6. Sandarac 7. Amber 8. Tannin 9. Paper 10. Food 11. Essential Oils and Fatty Oils.
Coniferales: Economic Use # 1. Wood:
1. Agathis australis (Kauri pine) is the largest timber-producing tree of the world’. Because of its hard, strong, lustrous, fine and even-textured wood, it is used for almost all practical purposes.
2. The heartwood of Cedrus deodara is strongly scented and extensively used for making doors, window panes, electric poles, building models, boats, carriages, railway sleepers and several other similar purposes. The wood of Cedrus is in great demand because it is very durable, oily and sweet and scented.
3. The wood of several species of Larix is used for boat making, poles, posts, railway sleepers,
etc.
4. The wood of Abies pindrow and Picea smithiana is used for making boxes and packing cases. Wood of Abies alba is used in general carpentry, musical instruments, boards, boxes, etc.
5. The wood of Pseudotsuga taxifolia yields veneers and plywood.
6. The wood of several species of Pinus is used for heavy construction work such as railway wagon flooring, ship building, agricultural implements, doors, poles, frames, furniture, etc. Some of the species utilized for the purpose include Pinus sylvestris, P. nigra, P.pinaster, P. roxburghii, P. wallichiana, P. halepensis, etc. Because of excessive resins, Pinus wood is not much used for carpentry.
7. Wood of Podocarpus is used to obtain plywood while that of Phyllocladus for making sleepers, mine timbers, small vessels, etc.
8. High quality pencils and cigar boxes are made from the wood of Juniperus virginiana.
9. Wood of Thuja plicata and Biota is highly resistant to different weathers because it is said to possess some antibiotics.
10. Decorative furniture is prepared from the wood of Callitris verrucosa while match sticks are prepared from the wood of Chamaecyparis obtusa.
11. Wooden poles, beams, sleepers, doors, cooling towers and green houses are prepared from the wood of Taxodium disticum.
12. Cryptomeria japonica is one of the most utilized timbers of Japan. It is widely used for furniture, building construction, panelling, etc.
Coniferales: Economic Use # 2. Canada Balsam:
Canada balsam, used as a mounting medium in microscopic preparations, is obtained from Abies balsamea. It is a resin and used so because it has a high refractive index as that of glass. Moreover, it does not crystalize or granulate on drying. It is also used for cementing the lenses in optical work. A Canada balsam-like resin, with almost similar properties, is also obtained from Tsuga canadensis and Pseudotsuga taxifolia.
Coniferales: Economic Use # 3. Resins, Rosins and Turpentines:
Resins are plant exudates. They make the wood resistant to decay. Conifers are the major resin yielders of the world. They are used in enamels, plasters varnishes, paper sizing, medicines, etc. Turpentines are oleoresins obtained almost exclusively from coniferous trees.
On disitation turpentines yield the essential oil or spirits of turpentine and rosin. Crude turpentine is obtained from the long-leaf pine (Pinus australis) and splash pine (P. caribaea). In India, a very important pine resin is obtained by tapping the chir pine (Pinus roxburghii) and blue pine (P. wallichiana).
Oil of turpentine (mixture of rosin and essentials oils) is of major importance in paint and varnish industry. Rosin or colophony, a brittle aromatic solid is used in manufacture of soap. Varnishes, paints linoleum oil cloth printer’s ink plastics drugs chemicals etc.
Coniferales: Economic Use # 4. Spruce Gum:
It has a pleasing resinous taste and obtained from Picea rubens. The gum softens in the mouth and assumes a reddish colour.
Coniferales: Economic Use # 5. Copals:
The copals comprise a considerable group of hard resins of recent semifossil and fossil origin. Copals have almost no oil and yield a hard elastic varnish. They are much valued in varnish industry because of their hardness and high melting point Kauri copal is obtained from Agathis australis and Mania copal from Agathis alba.
They are used chiefly for interior work and enamels. Agathis vitiensis, A. ovate and A. macrophylla are minor sources of copals.
Coniferales: Economic Use # 6. Sandarac:
Sandarac is a soft pale yellow resin obtained chiefly from Tetraelinis articulate of Cupressaceae. The resin in formed between the inner and outer layers of the bark and is excreted in the form of small tears, which quickly become opaque. Sandarac is also obtained from Callitris calcarata, C.glauca and C. verrucosa
Coniferales: Economic Use # 7. Amber:
Amber is a fossilized terpenoid resin obtained from Pinus succinifera. It is an exceedingly hard and brittle substance. The colour varies from yellow to brown and even black. It has been largely used for beads and other ornamental purposes. It is widely used for the mouthpieces of pipes and holders for cigars and cigarettes. A valuable varnish is also prepared from amber. Amber is also used in medicine and X-ray therapy.
Coniferales: Economic Use # 8. Tannin:
Tannin, obtained from the bark of several species of Araucaria, Agathis, Dacrydium, Phyllocladus, Pinus, Picea and Sequoia, is used to some extent in the tanning industry.
Coniferales: Economic Use # 9. Paper:
Newsprint, writing paper and some high quality printing paper is made from the wood pulp of several species of Coniferales including Abies balsamae. A pindrow Cryptomeria japonica, Juniperus virginiana, Picea smithiana, Pinus roxburghii, P. sylvestris, P. wallichiana, Tsuga canadensis, etc.
Newspaper industry is now largely based on conifer pulp, which is the main source of pulp throughout the world. Canada and U.S.A., the two largest paper-producing countries of the world, use conifers such as Picea, Pinus, Larix, Pseudotsuga and Abies. Excellent quality pulp for paper in India is obtained from Picea smithiana, Abies pindrow and Pinus roxburghii. Kraft paper is obtained from Cryptomeria japonica. Wood pulp of Picea and Tsuga is also used to obtain products like rayon, transparent and photographic film, lacquers, etc.
Coniferales: Economic Use # 10. Food:
Seeds of Pinus gerardiana (Chilgozah) and several other species such as P. edulis, P. roxburghii and P.monophylla are edible.
Coniferales: Economic Use # 11. Essential Oils and Fatty Oils:
The fatty oils obtained from the seeds Pinus cembra and Cephalotaxus drupacea are used for food purposes and also in paints. The fatty oil obtained from the seeds of Cephalotaxus drupacea is used as an illuminant in Japan.
Several essential oils are also obtained from Coniferales:
1. Red cedar wood oil, obtained from Juniperus virginiana, is used for oil immersion lenses and also for clearing microscopic preparations.
2. Oils obtained from Cryptomeria japonica and Cupressus sempervirens are used in various types of perfumes and flavouring agents.
3. Essential oil obtained from the waste wood of Dacrydium franklinii (Podocarpaceae) has high germicidal properties.
4. Oil of Hemlock, obtained from Picea glauca and Tsuga canadensis is used in several toilet preparations and room sprays.
5. Oil obtained from Cedrus deodara is highly useful in perfumery and also in medicines to treat skin diseases, gonorrhoea and bronchitis. In India it is used in perfumery and scenting soaps It is widely used for clearing tissues in histological works and for use with oil immersion lens of the microscope.