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maackia

Game of Cones

7 years ago

Conifer cones are fascinating structures and I'm hoping some of you will share your thoughts and expertise to enhance understanding for us novices.

I've got three questions:

  1. Are cones considered to be "woody" structures? It seems that way to me.
  2. Why do many conifers produce their cones near the top of the tree? You'd think it would be the opposite to maximize pollination, but I'm sure there's a good evolutionary explanation for it.
  3. Does pollination occur as soon as the male pollen enters the female cone crevice (i.e. instantaneous)?

Fossil records show that cones go back as far as 300 million years. Isn't evolution amazing and elegant?! I'm not a scientist, but if I were, evolutionary biology would've been my chosen field. :)


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