Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The female cone (megastrobilus, seed cone, or ovulate cone) contains ovules which when fertilized by pollen become seeds. The female cone structure varies more markedly between the different conifer families and is often crucial for the identification of many species of conifers.
The cones develop from axillary buds, and may be solitary or form clusters. [1] The pollen cones are long and catkin-like in shape. They may be sessile or short pedunculate. A pollen cone consists of a slender rachis with numerous spirally arranged microsporophylls around it. Each triangular microsporophyll has two basal pollen-producing pollen ...
The female cone then opens, releasing the seeds which grow to a young seedling. To fertilize the ovum, the male cone releases pollen that is carried in the wind to the female cone. This is pollination. (Male and female cones usually occur on the same plant.) The pollen fertilizes the female gamete (located in the female cone).
Language links are at the top of the page. Search. Search
The male pollen cones are narrowly cylindrical and resemble catkins. They grow in small groups of two or three cones. The peduncles are glabrous. Each pollen cone has numerous spirally inserted microsporophylls each with two basal pollen sacs producing bisaccate pollen. [8] The female seed cones are solitary. Their peduncles may have small ...
They have parallel sides and straight margins, the upper surface being dark green and the underside dull green. The pollen cones and seed cones grow in the axils of the leaves, the seed cones having short stalks and developing into succulent red fruits about 8 by 6 mm (0.3 by 0.2 in), each containing a single seed. [3]
The cones are globose, 0.8–1.4 in (2–3.5 cm) diameter, with 10–25 scales, each scale with one or two seeds; they are mature in 7–9 months after pollination, when they disintegrate to release the seeds. The male cones are produced in pendulous racemes, and shed their pollen in early spring.
Pollen strobili of Pinophyta are similar to those of cycads (although much smaller) and Ginkgoes in that they are composed of microsporophylls with microsporangia on the abaxial surface. Seed cones of many conifers are compound strobili. The central stem produces bracts and in the axil of each bract is a cone scale. Morphologically the cone ...