Photo Tour

Cones and Seeds

Some of the high elevation white pines have winged seeds and some have wingless seeds. Winged seeds can disperse from the cones in the wind. Wingless seeds cannot be dispersed far from the cone-producing tree and are primarily dispersed by birds (such as the Clarks Nutcracker). Winged seeds can also be dispersed by birds.

Even trees growing at the alpine treeline can produce cones and viable seed. The open cones shed their seed the previous year and the closed cones are still maturing and will shed seed later in the season that this photo was taken. Whitebark pine cones never open; the seed must be extracted from the cones by birds or other animals.

Rocky Mountain bristlecone pine seeds (left) and limber pine seeds (right).

A Rocky Mountain bristlecone pine krummholz with current year and last year cones.