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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. They are usually woody and variously conic, cylindrical, ovoid, to globular, and have scales and bracts arranged around a central axis, but can be fleshy and berry -like.
Most conifers are monoecious, but some are subdioecious or dioecious; all are wind-pollinated. Conifer seeds develop inside a protective cone called a strobilus. The cones take from four months to three years to reach maturity, and vary in size from 2 to 600 millimetres (1 ⁄ 8 to 23 + 5 ⁄ 8 in) long.
Metasequoia, or dawn redwood, is a genus of fast-growing coniferous trees, one of three species of conifers known as redwoods. The living species Metasequoia glyptostroboides is native to Lichuan county in Hubei province, China. Although the shortest of the redwoods, it grows to at least 165 feet (50 meters) in height.
Gnetophyta (/ n ɛ ˈ t ɒ f ɪ t ə, ˈ n ɛ t oʊ f aɪ t ə /) is a division of plants (alternatively considered the subclass Gnetidae or order Gnetales), grouped within the gymnosperms (which also includes conifers, cycads, and ginkgos), that consists of some 70 species across the three relict genera: Gnetum (family Gnetaceae), Welwitschia (family Welwitschiaceae), and Ephedra (family ...
The cones are 8–17 cm (3– 6 + 1 ⁄ 2 in) long and 4–6 cm (1 + 1 ⁄ 2 – 2 + 1 ⁄ 4 in) broad, dark purple before maturity; [4] [5] the scale bracts are short, and hidden in the closed cone. The brownish winged seeds are 3.5 mm (1 ⁄ 8 in) long [4] and released when the cones disintegrate at maturity about 6–7 months after pollination.
The conifers, division Pinophyta, are one of 13 or 14 division level taxa within the Kingdom Plantae. They are cone -bearing seed plants with vascular tissue; all extant conifers are woody plants , the great majority being trees with just a few being shrubs .
The seed cones are highly modified, each cone containing a single seed 4–7 mm (5 ⁄ 32 – 9 ⁄ 32 in) long partly surrounded by a modified scale which develops into a soft, bright red berry-like structure called an aril, 8–15 mm (5 ⁄ 16 – 19 ⁄ 32 in) long and wide and open at the end.
The female cones (seed), which mature in autumn about 18 months after pollination, are globose, large, 18–25 cm (7–10 in) in diameter, and hold about 100–150 seeds. The cones disintegrate at maturity to release the approximately 5 cm (2 in) long nut -like seeds, which are then dispersed by animals, notably the azure jay , Cyanocorax ...