Types of Pine Cones

Types of Pine Cones Douglas Fir Giant Sequoia Incense Cedar Knobcone Pine Ponderosa Pine Shore Pine Western Hemlock Western Redcedar White Pine Natural Wonders

The term pine cones often evokes a variety of meanings.

Used in the broadest sense of the phrase, it refers to any cone found on a coniferous tree, the order of trees called Pinales (Coniferales), which is commonly divided into two broad tree families, the pines (pinaceae) and cypress (cupressaceae).

While some botanists might flinch at the thought of calling cones from cypress trees "pine cones", it's important to remember that it was botanists who named some trees in the cypress family, Western Redcedar and Incense Cedar. Despite the name, neither are technically cedar trees (a genus of trees in the pine tree family), so calling their cones "pine cones" does not constitute a travesty of justice in the tree world.

A more technical approach to pine cones begins by defining them as only those cones found on trees in the pine tree family, the needle bearing treee such as pines, spruce and firs.

The most narrow application of the term pine cone comes by applying it only to the one hundred plus tree species in the Pinus genus of the pine family, or those trees typically called pine trees.

Regardless of whether one chooses a formal or informal classification, pine cones are the nice looking, seed bearing parts of conifers, that come in a range of sizes and shapes.

The top picture shows a cone from a spruce tree. The thin, papery scales distinguish spruce cones from the thick scaled, or woody cones, that grow on pine trees.

The links in the box point to articles with pictures and description of a small sample of the approximately one hundred different cone bearing trees native to the United States.

© 2008-2009 Patricia A. Michaels