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A mature female big-cone pine (Pinus coulteri) cone, the heaviest pine cone A young female or seed cone on a Norway spruce (Picea abies) Immature male or pollen 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 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).
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The female cones take 1.5–3 years (depending on species) to mature after pollination, with actual fertilization delayed one year. At maturity the female cones are 3–60 cm long. Each cone has numerous spirally arranged scales, with two seeds on each fertile scale; the scales at the base and tip of the cone are small and sterile, without seeds.
Once the pine cones are collected, they're brought to a network of nurseries, where the seeds are extracted and grown into seedlings. One million seedlings will plant about 4,500 acres of new forest.
Table Mountain pine typically has long, thick limbs on much of the trunk even in closed canopy stands. [7] Male cones are 1.5 centimetres (0.59 in) long. Female cones are sessile and range from 4.2 to 10 centimetres (1.7 to 3.9 in) long. [7] Cone scales are tough and armed with broad, upwardly curving spines. [6]
Each segment, or "scale", of the cone is tipped with a talon-like hook. Coulter pines produce the largest cones of any pine tree species and people are advised to wear hardhats when working in Coulter pine groves, although the slender cones of the sugar pine are longer. The large size of the cones, combined with the claw-like scales, has earned ...