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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.
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. In Pinaceae, Araucariaceae, Sciadopityaceae and most Cupressaceae, the cones are woody, and when mature the scales usually spread open allowing the seeds to fall out and be dispersed by the wind.
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.
The cones are 6–12 cm (2 + 1 ⁄ 4 – 4 + 3 ⁄ 4 in) long and 4–4.5 cm (1 + 5 ⁄ 8 – 1 + 3 ⁄ 4 in) broad, green or purple ripening pale brown, with about 100–150 scales; the scale bracts are short, and hidden in the closed cone. The winged seeds are released when the cones disintegrate at maturity about 6 months after pollination. [9]
Jeffrey pine wood and ponderosa pine wood are sold together as yellow pine. [6] Both kinds of wood are hard (with a Janka hardness of 550 lbf (2,400 N)), but the western yellow pine wood is less dense than southern yellow pine wood (28 lb/cu ft (0.45 g/cm 3 ) versus 35 lb/cu ft (0.56 g/cm 3 ) for shortleaf pine).
Cones of all species have thick scales, and all except those of P. pinea open at maturity. Species in this section are native to Europe, Asia, and the Mediterranean, except for P. resinosa in northeastern North America and P. tropicalis in western Cuba. [6] Subsection Incertae sedis
The cones are symmetrical ovoid, 4–6 cm (1 + 1 ⁄ 2 – 2 + 1 ⁄ 4 in) long by 2.5 cm (1 in) broad, and purple before maturity, ripening to nut-blue and opening to 4–5 cm (1 + 1 ⁄ 2 –2 in) broad, the scales without a prickle and almost stalkless. [2] The pine grows well in sandy soils and on soils which are too poor for white pine. [5]
The Monterey pine (always called "Radiata Pine" or Pinus radiata in New Zealand) was first introduced into New Zealand in 1859 [30] [31] and today 89% of the country's plantation forests are of this species. [32] This includes the Kaingaroa Forest (on the central plateau of the North Island), which is one of the largest planted forests in the ...