Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: pine cone

(+8 insets!) "Normal" Pine Cones Are Females! Imagine my surprise when I learned that pine trees have two kinds of cones: female and male! Actually, just go look in the mirror…because I am sure you're equally surprised! But stop and think: have you ever seen the curious little things scattered around on the ground under a pine tree that defy explanation? Or weird clusters of odd growths on some pine trees that you couldn't identify? Those are the male cones which are responsible for releasing pollen. We don't usually see the male cones because they are often found at the tops of the trees. However, some trees have male cones lower down. In fact, some trees are entirely covered with either male or female cones. If you'd like to know more, Wiki's Conifer Cone page is full of useful information, and NW Conifers: Lodgepole Pine talks about this species specifically. Today's Picture I was creeping around LaPine State Park and found myself admiring one of the countless pine trees there. The park has many species, mostly Ponderosa and Douglas Fir, but there are many others too--grand fir, cedar, larch and juniper to name a few. My eye was drawn to something odd on a cluster of pine needles and upon recognizing what I was looking at, a smile spread across my face. It was a male pine cone which has incredulously skewered itself on the pine needles. Shaking my head in disbelief, I stared as I brought my camera up for pictures. How in the world does this happen? Naturally it's merely statistics and I'm looking at the lucky winner of Nature's contest, "Caught on the Way Down." It's a favorite of mine and I cannot resist taking pictures of these miraculous finds. I'm not surprised that people have asked me many times, "Did you stage that shot?" It's reasonable to doubt these sights--seeing them out on my strolls, I have a hard time processing their probability too! But occur they do, and I'd never, ever "set a stage" for a "better" picture. This is Nature at her gob-smacking finest! Today's Insets Insets 1 & 2: Here and there on the pine needle-carpeted floor of the forest, the remnants of coralroot orchids could be seen. Standing as high as 8-10 inches tall, the dried stalks bristle with sticky resin that likely tastes horrible to deter opportunistic munchers. These unusual orchids can bloom from April to September depending on conditions but I believe what I'm showing is merely a dead plant, a bloom that was frozen in time and dried to show the moment. Could I be wrong? The lovely little black and white wasp I found seemed to think so, busy with hopes of nectar inside. To be honest, I didn't touch this plant so I am speculating its dried state. As it is, I'm not positive on the species either--coralroots can be very different from one another and yet are still the same species. I have not seen flowers that look just like this so I may be wrong! Let me know if you have info to clarify! Insets 3 &4: The forest around LaPine State Park is almost entirely brown or conifer-green, so when another color shows itself, you notice! First you'll see what I believe is a pair of wild gooseberries and they grow on tough shrubby bushes, determined to thrive in this dry desert environment. I also found a berry which had dried up, fallen off the bush and landed on the twig of another bush. I liked the translucence, wrinkled texture and the interesting lines of the twig branching this way and that. Inset 5: Once in a while I noticed odd burl-like growths on the branches of pine trees. I have learned that this is actually a disease called western gall rust. It can kill trees but for homeowners, these trees can be successfully treated. Inset 6: Finally, I've got a b/w image of a group of "golf-tee" fruticose lichen I found dried on a stump, waiting silently for the rain of late fall to arrive and bring it back to life. Inset 7: I added this last picture to show male cones growing on a tree. These were on our property! :) Thank You! There are few things that make me happier than knowing that a picture I took has made another person happy. What a gift it is to share my love of photography with others! Your visits, comments and stars truly make my day. It's such fun to see what you've come up with to share with us too, so thank you very much for the opportunity! I hope that everyone has been having a great week so far! Please stay safe, dry and warm! Explored on 3/30/21; highest placement #1.

(+3 insets) (View large for the best impact!) I kept waking up last night thinking about this week's Macro Monday theme: Advent. That's kind of a tough subject for me because although I am very spiritual, I am not religious. I felt pretty moody about the issue because it seemed kind of blatantly Christian. But instead of getting ruffled, I decided to focus on one of the suggestions: candles. Yesterday I rummaged around and found a few candles, put some Christmas lights up and played around for half an hour. I was pretty happy with the results except that I should have been back further to get better dof on the candle itself. In any event, I picked out three images that I liked and got them ready to post today. (See the insets) Except that...well, last week the topic was "Light Bulb" and I sort of did the very same thing except I used a light bulb instead of a candle. Where was my originality? I was annoyed—I hadn't produced the quality I would have preferred and I hadn't pushed myself to think outside the box or grow in any way. Finally giving up on sleep, I opened my laptop and began reading about Advent symbology. Candles, wreaths, Christmas trees, etc., but then I stopped on a word I didn't know: Chrismon . What that heck was a Chrismon? It's the joining of the word "Christ" and "monogram" and is an ornament that's usually white, but not always. These ornaments can be free-standing decorations or placed on a special Christmas tree that only has Chrismon ornaments—it's called a Chrismon tree. Ornaments can be made from many things that have specific meaning. For instance, evergreen trees represent eternal life. The traditional number of four candles represent the four weeks before Christmas. Each has its own meaning: hope, joy, faith and peace. Even colors have meaning. I thought it was all very interesting. I had no idea that Advent and Christmas were brimming with so many symbols to convey such deep meaning. To bring this together with my picture, a couple of days ago I took a walk along our ridge line. Although I was hunting for mushrooms, I couldn't stop myself from finding other things along the way. At one point I looked down and discovered a Black Oak acorn cap sitting on an enormous Ponderosa Pine cone. I was amazed and shook my head, considering the odds of that happening. I loved the way this pair looked so I took a set of pictures. I'd looked at the pictures on the computer and loved the dramatic look of the image. While learning about Advent symbology, I discovered that pine cones are often used because they signify death and resurrection, and acorns signify good luck and rebirth. My specific input is also that the acorn springs forth from the acorn cap. The second I put those two nuggets together, the joyful smile on my face warmed the whole room. Nature had provided me with the perfect picture, one that represented who I am and my kind of spirituality! Hooray! Pam, my idea of Advent when I think of you is the coming of your return to good health. Let us hope that each week that comes to pass, representing hope, joy, faith and peace combine together and bring that gift to you. Many *hugs*!! Explored on 12/11/18, highest placement, #1.

Frost is amazing at a macro level. Depending on what it's forming on, it can look totally different. Also, it can be a very unusual sight on something unexpected, like this pine cone, for instance. Here is a close-up of crystals that formed on the edge with pretty bokeh sparkling in the background.

(+9 insets above) This is a developing cluster of male pine cones surrounded by many needles, which are this plant's leaves. The pine cones we are familiar with are female cones. On a pine tree, male pine cones are usually found in clusters like this one, and are concentrated near the bottom of the tree, while the female cones are concentrated near the top. This arrangement helps to ensure cross-pollination between pine trees. There is another story here too, if you look closely. On the right side of the cluster, you will see a small spider, and if you look down below, you will see its newly shedded skin or exoskeleton. My apologies for posting so infrequently. I am busy working on my book, and now that the last day of frost has arrived, I have a garden to plant. And of course, there are a zillion other things going on...work, life, etc! :D Explored on May 6, 2014. Highest placement, #1.

WHAT?! Ok, ok, I'm cheating and I don't care! I think male pine cones look as pretty as flowers and since they release pollen, I'm including this as one of the Flowers of Spring & Summer! :) So there! :D The first thing to know is that pine cones don't have flowers! Instead, these trees have male cones that release pollen and female cones that receive the pollen and produce seeds. Male cones look very different and grow on the lower branches, whereas female cones grow on the upper branches. They are the cones we all recognize. They receive the pollen released by the male cones and produce seeds. Isn't that fascinating?! I always wondered what these things were! If you would like to know more about pine cones, Wiki has a very nice page here: Wiki: Conifer Cone