A cone is a conical fruit consisting of seed-bearing, overlapping scales surrounding a central axis. These are densely clustered bracts of conifers. These develop into a woody, seed-bearing structure.

 

The conifers are woody plants, and most are trees. The size of mature conifers varies from less than one meter, to over 100 meters. The world's tallest, largest, thickest and oldest living things are all conifers.

 

Leaves of conifers are long, thin and needle-like, but others, have flat, triangular scale-like leaves. In a majority of conifers, the leaves are arranged spirally, the leaf bases are twisted to present the leaves in a flat plane for maximum light capture. The leaf size varies from 2 mm in many scale-leaved species, up to 400 mm long in the needles of some pines. The stomata are in lines or patches on the leaves, and can be closed when it is very dry or cold. The leaves are often dark green in color which may help absorb a maximum of energy from weak sunshine at high latitudes or under forest canopy shade.

 

The male cone (microstrobilus or pollen cone) is structurally similar across all conifers, differing only in small ways (mostly in scale arrangement) from species to species. Extending out from a central axis are microsporophylls (modified leaves). Under each microsporophyll is one or several microsporangia (pollen sacs). The photo (right) shows mature male pine cones shortly after pollen release.

 

The female cone (megastrobilus, seed cone, or ovulate cone) contains ovules within which, when fertilized by pollen, become seeds. The female cone structure varies more markedly between the different conifer families, and is often crucial for the identification of many species of conifers; in as much as seeing the foliage alone may be insufficient to differentiate between closely related species.

 

The female cone has two types of scale: the bract scales, derived from a modified leaf, and the seed scales (or ovuliferous scales), one subtending each bract scale, derived from a highly modified branches.

 

The cones are imbricate with scales overlapping each other like fish scales. These are the "archetypal" cone. The scales are spirally arranged in Fibonacci number ratios.

 

Did you know?

·        Maine designated the white pine cone and tassel as its state flower.

·        The tallest Conifer is a Coast Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), with a height of 115.2 meters. The largest is a Giant Sequoia.

·        The name "cone" derives from the fact that the shape in some species resembles a geometric cone.