"C" is for Cones

Did you know pine cones opened and closed depending on the weather?  I didn't!  Our neighbor has a pine tree with TONS of pine cones.  For some reason they didn't fall off last year, so there are at least two years worth of cones on her tree this year.

Tree with too many cones.  Hard to see them, but there are too many!!

It was raining the day my mom took this first photo, and it was warm and sunny when I took the second pic.

Closed                                                             Open

From wikipedia:

"...cones are open when dry and closed when wet. This assures that the small, wind disseminated seeds will be dispersed during relatively dry weather, and thus, the distance traveled from the parent tree will be enhanced. A pine cone will go through many cycles of opening and closing during its life span, even after seed dispersal is complete. This process occurs with older cones while attached to branches and even after the older cones have fallen..."

Neat-O.

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