Coastal Conifers

My toddler son Alden recently learned the word for “cone”. He now stoops to examine every cone he finds and often collects a few, clutching them in his fists. Cones litter the ground this time of year, having been knocked down by winter storms.

A conifer is cone-bearing tree. Conifers are usually evergreen but not always (larches drop their needles in the fall). Most conifers produce both male and female cones on the same tree. Male cones are very small, and rarely noticed. In the spring they produce quantities of pollen, then promptly fall off the tree. Pollen, spread by wind, fertilizes female cones.

Female cones grow to a much larger size, and come in many distinctive shapes and sizes depending on the species. Female cones are ringed with scales. At the base of each scale are two ovules, and each landed pollen grain will grow a “pollen tube” to transfer sperm into the ovules. After fertilization, it takes female cones 6-8 months or more to reach maturity. Mature cones turn brown and may drop to the ground or remain on the tree. Seeds, housed at the base of the cone scales, are eventually released and may be dispersed by wind or the animals and birds that eat them.

There are about eight species of conifers that are common in the lowlands of our area, and all of these have distinctive cones that are easy to recognize with practice.

The cones we find so plentifully on the ground are usually Douglas-fir, Sitka spruce or western hemlock. Douglas-fir cones hang from branches, and are 5-10 cm long. Between the cone scales are distinctive three-pronged bracts, that some liken to the hind feet and tail of a mouse. Sitka spruce is a prickly tree that is painful to touch. The reddish-brown cones, similar in size to the Douglas-fir, have soft, thin scales with a wavy, irregular edge.

Two species of conifers in our area have small cones. Western hemlock produces numerous cones that are about two cm long. Western red cedar, one of the coast’s giants, produces some of the smallest cones. Only one cm long, cedar cones grow upright on branches, and often persist over winter.

One does not often see the cones of the grand fir, which grow near the tree’s crown. Since the grand fir has upright cones, it is dubbed a “true” fir, unlike the Douglas-fir and Sitka spruce, which are “false” firs. Grand fir cones remain on the tree, and at maturity scales and seeds slough off, leaving a spike-like core.

Shore pine, the coastal relative of lodgepole pine, has needles in bundles of two. The hard, spiny cones are roughly oval shaped and slightly curved. The cones open to release seeds at maturity, unlike lodgepole pine, which requires the extreme heat of fire to do so.

The largest cones around belong to the western white pine, the only other species of pine in our area. Western white pine has needles in groups of five. The cones are long and cylindrical, and grow up to 25 cm long. The scales of these handsome cones often have a decorative splash of white pitch.

An unusual conifer, the western yew tree produces a hard seed enclosed by a fleshy, berry-like structure. Red-coloured yew “berries” look like large huckleberries with a hole in the end, but are very poisonous to humans. Yew trees are either male or female.

Cones are everywhere, and winter is a great time to study them. Take a closer look, and what you thought was simply a “pine cone” might actually belong to a Douglas-fir or Sitka spruce. There is much to learn, as my son knows, right at our feet.

Filed under Nature Writing | Comment (1)