Three cones on the celebrity Lijiang spruce at the Arnold Arboretum. On the left is a male, pollen-producing cone; on the right is a female, seed-producing cone.

The wind carries the pollen away from the male cones, which fall off shortly after the pollen is gone. After pollen enters, the scales of the female cone close to allow the seeds time to develop.

They inspected branches from seven whitebark pine sites in western Montana, counting the scars left by pollen cones and seed cones. "All the years with a high number of seed cones had one thing in ...

Many people imagine that pine cones—or the individual scales within the pine cone—are the tree's seeds, and by planting the pine cone you can grow a new pine tree.

To understand why pine cones are so cool, you have to go back to the first land plants. Well over 400 million years ago, plants made the leap from an aquatic existence to the land.

Because so many of us use pine cones to decorate for Christmas, I thought it’d be fun to check them out. But what I learned was far more than fun – it was downright amazing. There are more ...

A stroll through our local forest this time of year reveals bright green, fresh growth at the tips of the branches on pines, spruces and firs.A closer look reveals bunches of miniature pine cones ...

Up above, trees are gloriously busy right now, their leaves a radiant green in the sunshine. They're gleefully photosynthesizing with all their might, but that's not all that those trees are doing ...

The pollen cones are fairly small and inconspicuous, and they shrivel and fall to the ground once the pollen is shed. The “female” cones are the larger, often prickly structures most of us ...

The male cones produce pollen, are typically very small and grow mostly on the lower branches. The female cones are larger and have woody spirals, which are designed to keep the seeds of the tree ...

Well, good luck with that! I'd recommend clippers if you really need one of these pine cones. Strong, stout clippers. Table mountain pine, Pinus pungens, seed cones, shown here from a mountain top ...

This variation depends on four factors: male pollen cones, female seed cones, wind and proximity. Each year, pollen from male cones is carried on the air to fertilize female seed cones perched ...