The large leaf surface allows for maximum photosynthesis during the short growing season. Deciduous trees, such as oak, maple, hickory, and beech produce flowers. The sugar maple, for example, has flowers that are attached on short stems and hang in drooping clusters. The sugar maple produces both male and female flowers. After fertilization, the two ovules in the female flower develop into a pair of seeds which will be transported through the air by a wing or key.
Coniferous trees can be small bushes or hundred metre high redwoods.
Some of the best-known members of the conifer family are the pines, spruces, firs, and hemlocks. The cones of the conifers are its flowers. Pine trees, for example, have two kinds of cones, male and female. The male cones are small and easy to miss. In spring they grow in clusters at the base of the new shoots.