Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
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.
Pine nuts, also called piñón (Spanish:), pinoli (Italian: [piˈnɔːli]), or pignoli, are the edible seeds of pines (family Pinaceae, genus Pinus).According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, only 29 species provide edible nuts, while 20 are traded locally or internationally [1] owing to their seed size being large enough to be worth harvesting; in other pines, the seeds are also ...
It is the older and weathered cones that are more readily accessible as the scales begin to separate. [13] The Cassia crossbill will mainly eat seeds from cones on the pine tree itself, but fallen cones are also foraged on as well. [3] The crossbill will use its beak to pry the cone open and then it will use its tongue to obtain the seed.
The cones of the bunya pine are some of the largest produced by the conifer family. The cones—which can grow to as much as 35 centimetres (14 in) in diameter when mature, and weigh up to 10 kilograms (22 lb)—can drop on unsuspecting passersby from heights of 40 metres (130 ft) or more. [ 45 ]
Female cones are woody and sometimes armed to protect developing seeds from foragers. At maturity, the cones usually open to release the seeds. In some of the bird-dispersed species, for example whitebark pine, [15] the seeds are only released by the bird breaking the cones open. In others, the seeds are stored in closed cones for many years ...
They are specialist feeders on conifer cones, and the unusual bill shape is an adaptation to assist the extraction of the seeds from the cone. The Scottish crossbill appears to be a specialist feeder on the cones of pines (Scots pine and Lodgepole pine) and larch. [citation needed]
In some (e.g. firs and cedars), the cones disintegrate to release the seeds, and in others (e.g. the pines that produce pine nuts) the nut-like seeds are dispersed by birds (mainly nutcrackers, and jays), which break up the specially adapted softer cones. Ripe cones may remain on the plant for a varied amount of time before falling to the ...
The cones thus grow over a two-year (26-month) cycle, so that newer green and older, seed-bearing or open brown cones are on the tree at the same time. Open cone with empty pine nuts. The seed cones open to 6–9 cm (2 + 1 ⁄ 4 – 3 + 1 ⁄ 2 in) broad when mature, holding the seeds on the scales after opening.