Because of the anticipated seed shortage that comes with a low estimate of pine cone crops for the third consecutive year, ...

But more pine cones can also mean the trees are producing more reproductive seeds as a way to deal with the stress of a dry or changing climate. It’s a matter of survival: The tougher, drier the ...

Pine cones stay on a tree until the seeds are mature, which can be anywhere from 2 to 10 years. Typically, pine cones open and release their seeds and fall to the ground in warm weather, ...

Evergreen trees that produce cones are called conifers. There are more than 600 species of conifers — which include pines, firs and spruce — each with its own type and size of cones.

These cones don’t hold any tree seeds, however. Instead, they harbor the “seeds” of a gall-midge called Rhabdophaga strobiloides. These are willow pine cone galls.

In this Thursday, Oct. 24, 2019, photo Ponderosa pine cones sit on a tree stump after being cut open during a demonstration at Bandelier National Monument near Los Alamos, N.M.

The pine cone was so huge that as I passed a garage sale near home, I could see it from the road. And I knew I had to have it. Best of all, this wasn’t really a sale, rather a large pile of ...

But more pine cones can also mean the trees are producing more reproductive seeds as a way to deal with the stress of a dry or changing climate. It's a matter of survival: The tougher, drier the ...

He then sells them for $5 per sack to a pine cone buyer in La Pine, earning him $20 to $25. “That’s my gas to and from work,” said Scoggin, 67, who works part time assembling display items ...

Pine cones are all around us in holiday celebrations. ... The cones are 1 to 2 inches long, egg-shaped, often with a prickle; may hang closed on tree for years until heat of fire releases seeds.