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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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They contain 80–200 large edible seeds, similar to pine nuts, though larger. The male cones are smaller, 4–10 cm (1 + 1 ⁄ 2 –4 in) long, narrow to broad cylindrical, and 1.5–5 cm (1 ⁄ 2 –2 in) broad. The genus is familiar to many people as the genus of the distinctive Chilean pine or monkey-puzzle tree (Araucaria araucana).
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 ...
It is usually monoecious with male and female cones on the same tree; the pollen cones are long and slender, up to 20 cm (8 in) long and 1 cm (3 ⁄ 8 in) broad; the seed cones are oval, up to 25 cm (10 in) long and 14–16 cm (5 + 1 ⁄ 2 – 6 + 1 ⁄ 4 in) broad.
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.
Protogynous: (of dichogamous plants) having female parts of flowers developed before male parts, e.g. having flowers that function first as female and then change to male or producing pollen after the stigmas of the same plant are receptive. [6] Subandroecious: having mostly male flowers, with a few female or bisexual flowers. [24]