The sex lives of Christmas trees
The humble pine cone is more than a holiday decoration. It’s an ancient form of tree sex. Flowers may be faster and showier, but the largest living things in the world? The oldest? They all reproduce with pine cones.
Conifers are mostly wind pollinators, broadcasting huge quantities of male gametes into the air during summer months. The pollen can be seen when it settles on parked cars and windowsills as a fine yellow powder.
After receiving the pollen, the female cones close back up until the seeds are fertilized and mature. Once they are, the scales reopen allowing the wind to disperse the winged seeds.
Watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEji9I4Tcjo&feature=youtu.be
Article:
http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2015/11/24/the-sex-lives-of-christmas-trees/
#botanics #evolution #christmastree #polinators
I don't know If I processed this wrongly or not, but it sounds like a Pinecone can impregnate a pinecone from 5 miles away!.. That is a weird sentence to say.
ReplyDeleteI hear you Jordan....what can I say?... kinky ;)
ReplyDeleteHuh, I always wondered what the purpose of a pinecone was. And here I thought as a kid they were just there to be cool to throw on campfires and watch explode!
ReplyDeleteI have seven mature spruce in my front yard. I think they must be seventy or eighty feet high, though I've never tried to figure it out. They're very messy and grand and shelter my home beautifully. They drop a lot of acorns and needles, dust and sticky resin. Birds shelter in them against the fiercest weather and find food between it's needles all day. The falcons that nest on the tall school nearby often dine above our yard, littering precious wings and feathers onto the snow below.
ReplyDeleteYou could say they pine for each other...
ReplyDeleteمن نمیتونم عکسا روببینم help me
ReplyDeleteThe woman in my life closed up before polination... I've avoided drawing conclusions though because I'm not creative enough to conceive of a cause that sits well with my hopes.
ReplyDeleteThis is why I bought an aluminum Christmas tree. I haven't had the talk yet with my little ones....
ReplyDeletebrian smith LOL
ReplyDeleteNot a whole lot of "hanky panky" going on at Christmas tree farm. At least with the trees. Most Christmas tree farms use clones for uniformity of crop.
ReplyDelete