White Pine

I was visiting a client last week and noticed that her white pine, Pinus strobus, was dropping cones. I asked if I could have one—they smell wonderful—and took it back to my office and put it on my desk. Late in the week I noticed  a bunch of little winged seeds scattered under it. The cone looked a little fluffed up—like a chilly bird–it had dried out, the scales had popped open, and the seeds had dropped.

The pinecone still has a few seeds to shed; they are lodged within their scales towards the base of the cone, in the upper lefthand corner.
A white pine cone with seeds it has shed behind it and to the right. If you look carefully at the scales near the base, some seeds are still nestled within. Photographed on March 6, 2019.

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