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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.
Pollination occurs early the following spring, with the male cones 3–8 cm (1 + 1 ⁄ 4 – 3 + 1 ⁄ 4 in) long. 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 ...
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 ...
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 seed cones are ovoid, 15–32 mm (9 ⁄ 16 – 1 + 1 ⁄ 4 in) long, with 15–25 spirally arranged scales; pollination is in late winter with maturation about 8–9 months after. Each cone scale bears three to seven seeds, each seed 3–4 mm (1 ⁄ 8 – 3 ⁄ 16 in) long and 0.5 mm (1 ⁄ 32 in) broad, with two wings 1 mm (1 ⁄ 16 in ...
It is usually dioecious, with the male and female cones on separate trees, though occasional individuals bear cones of both sexes. The male (pollen) cones are oblong and cucumber-shaped, 4 cm ( 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 in) long at first, expanding to 8–12 cm (3– 4 + 1 ⁄ 2 in) long by 5–6 cm (2– 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 in) broad at pollen release.
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The cones are strongly reflexed down the branch, 5-to-10-centimetre-long (2.0 to 3.9 in) long; the scales are stiff, thin on the side of the cone facing the stem, but greatly thickened on the side facing away and with a stout 5 to 12 millimetres (0.20 to 0.47 in) spine; both features adaptive to minimise squirrel predation and fire damage to ...