Original photo by Alena Kandratsyeva/ Unsplash
There’s more than one way to predict the weather. Anyone wary of their local news forecast can try something much simpler if they’d like to know whether or not it’s about to rain: Simply take a peek at some pine cones, which close in response to moisture in the air.
They do this for the same reason they do everything else: to disperse their seeds as widely and effectively as possible, as pine cones are a means of reproduction for some trees. There are both male and female cones, and most of the ones we see are the latter — they produce seeds, whereas males produce the pollen that fertilizes female cones. Dry conditions are more conducive to speed dispersal, while dampness, well, dampens.
Pine cone scales have several layers. If water drops make contact with the upper layer when the cone is open, the water then slides into the inner layer and causes it to expand. Once the scales begin to bend upward, they eventually curl shut. Then when the air becomes drier and the water inside the cone evaporates, the scales open up again. Pine cone seeds are designed to travel on the wind and can reach a distance of several hundred feet from their parent tree when conditions are ideal — which is to say, dry.
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The name of the protuberance at the end of a pine cone is ______.
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The name of the protuberance at the end of a pine cone is umbo.
The location of the oldest tree in the world is kept secret.
There’s a good reason the oldest tree in the world is named Methuselah. The 4,857-year-old Great Basin bristlecone pine was named after a biblical figure who was said to have reached the age of 969, which would make him the oldest human who ever lived.
There’s also a good reason the tree’s exact location isn’t public information: The U.S. Forest Service wants to protect it from vandalism or worse. Located nearly 9,800 feet above sea level in the White Mountains of Inyo County, California, Methusaleh is believed to be the oldest living non-clonal organism on the planet. Inyo County doesn’t receive much precipitation, but when it does, you can be sure that Methusaleh’s pine cones close to keep dry.
Michael Nordine is a writer and editor living in Denver. A native Angeleno, he has two cats and wishes he had more.
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