they're called leaves, but some softwoods, such as psuedotsuga menziesii often have their leaves refereed to as needles.
Needle-leaf trees produce softwood.
A leaf is neither. A cherry tree is a hardwood.
Gymnosperm
No. It's a softwood. The difference isn't a matter of wood density. Softwoods come from needle-leaf trees, and hardwoods come from broadleaf trees. The softest wood in the world is balsa, which is extremely soft and lightweight...but because balsa trees are broadleaf, balsa is a hardwood. On the other hand, Radiata pine is roughly as hard as mahogany - which is unquestionably a hardwood - but because it's a needle-leaf tree it is a softwood.
Gymnosperm
Hardwood. All deciduous (leaf bearing) trees are hardwoods.
Softwood is from coniferous trees, which are types of gymnosperm trees. Other names for softwood is balsam, tamarack, pine, fir, or spruce.
Softwood. Softwood is a class of timber that has a loose widely spaced grain such as pine for example, hardwood has a fine closely set grain such as eucalyptus and balsawood.
Glucomannan, Glucuronoxylan
It is a softwood.
Two of the quickest-growing trees are poplar and radiata pine, which both reach market size in about 10 years. Poplar is a hardwood (broadleaf) tree, radiata pine is a softwood (needle-leaf) tree. One of the slowest-growing trees is California redwood, which takes about 80 years to reach market size; it's a softwood.
By definition, all dicotyledon trees are hardwood trees. All polycotyledon trees are softwood trees. Cherry trees are dicotyledons. Long leaf pines have much harder wood than most hardwood trees. "Dade County Pine," a type of Slash Pine, is too hard to nail. Termites can not bite into it. It is still called softwood.