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A mature female big-cone pine (Pinus coulteri) cone, the heaviest pine cone A young female cone on a Norway spruce (Picea abies) Immature male cones of Swiss pine (Pinus cembra) A conifer cone, or in formal botanical usage a strobilus, pl.: strobili, is a seed-bearing organ on gymnosperm plants, especially in conifers and cycads.
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The female (seed) cones mature in about 20 months from pollination; when mature, they are yellow-brown in color, 15–25 cm (6– 9 + 3 ⁄ 4 in) long, and 5–7 cm (2– 2 + 3 ⁄ 4 in) broad, opening to 12 cm (4 + 3 ⁄ 4 in), and have a small, but sharp, downward-pointing spine on the middle of each scale.
The name bristlecone pine refers to the dark purple female cones that bear incurved prickles on their surface. [5] [12] The dark color of these cones helps to absorb heat. After maturity, which takes about two years, the cones will become brown in color. [13]
Young female cone Pinus sylvestris forest in Sierra de Guadarrama, central Spain. Pinus sylvestris is an evergreen coniferous tree growing up to 35 metres (115 feet) in height [4] and 1 m (3 ft 3 in) in trunk diameter when mature, [5] exceptionally over 45 m (148 ft) tall and 1.7 m (5 + 1 ⁄ 2 ft) in trunk diameter on very productive sites.
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).
The female cones are large and usually woody, 2–60 centimetres (1–24 inches) long, with numerous spirally arranged scales, and two winged seeds on each scale. The male cones are small, 0.5–6 cm (1 ⁄ 4 – 2 + 1 ⁄ 4 in) long, and fall soon after pollination; pollen dispersal is by wind. Seed dispersal is mostly by wind, but some ...