The term softwood is used to describe wood from trees that are known as gymnosperms. Conifers are an example. It may also be used to describe trees which tend to be evergreen, notable exceptions being bald cypress and the larches.

 

Softwood is the source of about 80% of the world's production of timber, with traditional centres of production being the Baltic region (including Scandinavia and Russia) and North America. The term is opposed to hardwood, which is the wood from angiosperm trees.

 

Softwoods are not necessarily softer than hardwoods. In both groups there is an enormous variation in actual wood hardness, with the range in density in hardwoods completely including that of softwoods; some hardwoods (e.g. balsa) are softer than most softwoods, while the hardest hardwoods are much harder than any softwood;. The woods of longleaf pine, douglas fir, and yew are much harder in the mechanical sense than several hardwoods.

 

In general softwood is easy to work: it forms the bulk of wood used by humans.