Types of Pine Cones

Crafters and nutritionists associate the term with wreaths, bird houses and food. Landscape architects and foresters associate the term with trees and shrubs.

Used in the broadest sense of the phrase, pine cone refers to any seed bearing cone found on a coniferous tree, the order of trees called Pinales (Coniferales).

Botanists continue to discuss conifer taxonomy, therefore present day acceptance of its division into eight broad conifer families is subject to revision.

Members of two conifer families, pines (pinaceae) and cypress (cupressaceae), dominate the North American Landscape, with names such as larch, cedar, spruce and pine almost universally recognized.

Their cones vary in size and shape, and literally speaking, you can tell a good deal about a tree or shrub from its cone.

Consider the three pine cone pictures presented on this page.

The top picture shows a cone from a spruce tree, a genus (Picea) in the larger pine family. The thin, papery scales of spruce cones distinguish them from other pine species.

The second picture shows a Douglas Fir cone, a genus (Pseudotsuga) pines native to the West Coast, with a small East Coast presence.

Second only to the coastal redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) in size, Douglas Firs can reach heights of three hundred feet or more.

The three-pronged bracts that cover the sides of the cone, give it a distinct look and make it one of the easiest cones to identify.

Douglas Firs are the state tree of Oregon.

Still in the pine family, five different Hemlock species, genus Tsuga, grow on the East and West Coasts.

Western Hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla), the tallest species, grows hardily, up to two hundred feet in height, in its moisture rich Pacific Northwest coastal environment (and some areas of the Rocky Mountains).

Like the Giant Sequoia, the Western Hemlock shows that big is not always better in the cone business. The third picture shows a cone, measuring around one inch, enlarged by a factor of three. The small, soft needles, have white stripes on the back.

The Western Hemlock is the state tree of Washington State.

A more narrow application of the term pine cone comes by applying it to cones in the Pinus genus of the pine family. The types of pine trees article expands on that approach.

© 2008-2011 Patricia A. Michaels