Editing Pine (section)

=== Cones ===

Pines are [[monoecious]], having the male and female cones on the same tree.<ref name=Judetal>{{cite book |first1=W.S. |last1=Judd |first2=C.S. |last2=Campbell |first3=E.A. |last3=Kellogg |first4=P.F. |last4=Stevens |first5=M.J. |last5=Donoghue |date=2002 |title=Plant systematics, a phylogenetic approach |edition=2 |publisher=Sinauer Associates |isbn=0-87893-403-0 }}</ref>{{rp |205}} The male cones are small, typically 1–5&nbsp;cm long, and only present for a short period (usually in spring, though autumn in a few pines), falling as soon as they have shed their [[pollen]]. The female cones take 1.5–3 years (depending on species) to mature after [[pollination]], with actual fertilisation delayed one year. At maturity the female cones are 3–60&nbsp;cm long. Each cone has numerous spirally arranged scales, with two seeds on each fertile scale; the scales at the base and tip of the cone are small and sterile, without seeds.<ref name="RHSD"/>

The seeds are mostly small and winged, and are [[Anemochory|anemochorous]] (wind-dispersed), but some are larger and have only a vestigial wing, and are [[bird]]-dispersed. Female cones are woody and sometimes armed to protect developing seeds from foragers. At maturity, the cones usually open to release the seeds. In some of the bird-dispersed species, for example [[whitebark pine]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tomback |first=Diana F. |author-link=Diana Tomback |date=June 1982 |title=Dispersal of Whitebark Pine seeds by Clark's Nutcracker: a mutualism hypothesis |journal=The Journal of Animal Ecology |volume=51 |issue=2 |pages=451–467 |doi=10.2307/3976 |jstor=3976 |bibcode=1982JAnEc..51..451T }}</ref> the seeds are only released by the bird breaking the cones open. In others, the seeds are stored in closed cones for many years until an environmental cue triggers the cones to open, releasing the seeds. This is called [[serotiny]]. The most common form of serotiny is pyriscence, in which resin binds the cones shut until melted by a forest fire, for example in ''[[Pinus radiata|P.&nbsp;radiata]]'' and ''[[Pinus muricata|P.&nbsp;muricata]]''; the seeds are then released after the fire to colonise the burnt ground with minimal competition from other plants.<ref name="RHSD"/><ref name="Rushforth">{{cite book | last=Rushforth | first=Keith | title=Conifers | publisher=Christopher Helm Publishers, Incorporated | publication-place=London | date=1987-01-01 | isbn=0-7470-2801-X | pages=158–192}}</ref>