Pinecone

Here we have the female pine cone, fallen down from her glorious tree. Before she fell, she probably mingled a bit with a male pine cone or too to get some of his pollen to fertilize her seeds (dirty lady). Just like human ladies, this lady cone ovulates and allows it's ovules to be turned into seeds upon fertilization -- of the right man's pollen of course! The male pine cones have evolved to be these small little wormy bean things. They're usually found clustered together, where the females are spread out a bit. This pine cone probably spread its "leaves" many times before it fell every so sadly from the tree. The "leaves" open up to catch the pollen and close to complete fertilization or mature fully. Nifty little things, aren't they?

 

A beautiful thing about these pine cones is there signature spiral design. Their little wooden pedals are actually modified leaves -- short, thick, woody and strong as they've needed to be to protect its precious seeds and survive the seasons.

 

Pine cones are the reason these conifers are able to sexually reproduce! They seem to show as much apical dominance in their structure as the trees themselves.

Done