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Conifer cone
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<p>A conifer cone, or in formal <a href="/facts/Botany/PaIRoxnb">botanical</a> usage a <a href="/facts/Strobilus/WEVJDExF">strobilus</a>, pl.: strobili, is a seed-bearing organ on <a href="/facts/Gymnosperm/lzcpfbUK">gymnosperm</a> plants, especially in <a href="/facts/Conifer/vDUgqxCx">conifers</a> and <a href="/facts/Cycad/Kc2JDExr">cycads</a>. They are usually woody and variously conic, cylindrical, ovoid, to globular, and have scales and <a href="/facts/Bract/pnMGNMdn">bracts</a> arranged around a central axis, but can be fleshy and <a href="/facts/Berry_(botany)/2JfhI0vw">berry</a>-like. The cone of <a href="/facts/Pinophyta/vDUgqxCx">Pinophyta</a> (conifer clade) contains the <a href="/facts/Plant_sexuality/Up20kQT3">reproductive</a> structures. The woody cone is the female cone, which produces <a href="/facts/Seeds/a4xGSLxJ">seeds</a>. The male cone, which produces <a href="/facts/Pollen/eqRP052I">pollen</a>, is usually <a href="/facts/Ephemerality/tAvLGoVk">ephemeral</a> and much less conspicuous even at full maturity. The name "cone" derives from Greek <i>konos</i> (pine cone), which also gave name to the geometric <a href="/facts/Cone/2c9GIzYD">cone</a>. The individual plates of a cone are known as <i>scales</i>. In conifers where the cone develops over more than one year (such as <a href="/facts/Pine/HvMa9uc1">pines</a>), the first year's growth of a seed scale on the cone, showing up as a protuberance at the end of the two-year-old scale, is called an <i>umbo</i>, while the second year's growth is called the <i>apophysis</i>. </p><p>The male cone (microstrobilus or pollen cone) is structurally similar across all conifers, differing only in small ways (mostly in scale arrangement) from species to species. Extending out from a central axis are <a href="/facts/Microsporophyll/WooSYxBC">microsporophylls</a> (modified leaves). Under each microsporophyll is one or several <a href="/facts/Sporangium/WooSYxBC">microsporangia</a> (<a href="/facts/Pollen/eqRP052I">pollen</a> sacs). </p><p>The female cone (megastrobilus, seed cone, or ovulate cone) contains <a href="/facts/Ovule/DFvS1VvA">ovules</a> which when fertilized by pollen become seeds. The female cone structure varies more markedly between the different conifer families and is often crucial for the identification of many species of conifers. </p>