Cones are made up of scales attached to a center stalk. In between the overlapping scales the seeds can be found. The scales on the cones help us identify the various species. Pinecone scales are woody in nature, with a rigid feel. In contrast, spruce cones have thinner scales than pinecones, which gives them a more flexible feel.
The length of cone is not a reliable way of differentiating most types of conifers because the length can vary from tree to tree.
For example the sugar pine cones range in size from 8 inches long to more than 26 inches long. Bark Bark alone is not a fully reliable indicator of the type of conifer you have. The surest way to identify conifers is to examine the needles and cones along with the bark. In general the bark of pine trees is smooth on young trees but develops a flaky, reddish-brown color with age.
White pines can have smooth bark, even when mature. The bark on spruce trees is generally rough to touch and becomes furrowed and scaly with age. Fir trees have smooth bark that is often grayish when young, but develops a furrowed appearance as it ages. Needle Drop All conifers shed needles -- sometimes this shedding is slow, but most commonly it occurs all at once in the fall. Because the oldest needles are shed, the "inner" areas of the tree closer to the trunk become less dense than the outer areas.
The cones on different types of conifers will appear quite different from one another; on a spruce, the scales of the cone will be narrow and fe. Compare this to the scales of a pinecone, which feel rigid like the wood of the tree itself. The final part of the tree to examine is the bark; however, different subspecies of the same tree can sport wildly different types of bark, so this method is not necessarily the most reliable.
Even so, spruce trees usually have a rough and scaly bark. Another extremely popular conifer, fir trees are generally tall and very narrow in appearance. Much like spruce trees, firs have individual needles attached directly to the branches. These needles are usually attached to the branches by something resembling a suction cup in appearance. Unlike spruce trees, the needles on firs are generally very sharply pointed, but also softer.
Spruce needles will break if you bend them, but fir needles will usually have a lot of give. On a fir tree, the branches can grow in very densely, obscuring the trunk from view. This gives the trees an attractive appearance that greatly contributes to their popularity as Christmas Trees. On a fir tree, the bark will be smooth to the touch, in contrast to the rough spruce bark. Examining the cones of a fir tree will be hard. You are unlikely to see a whole one drop to the ground.
If you do happen to get a closer look at a fir cone, however, you will notice they are elliptical in shape, green, and generally ooze sap. Very different from other types of cones! There are many different varieties of fir trees; balsam fir, noble fir, douglas fir, and fraser fir are among the most popular.
True pine trees will have needles in clusters of two, three, or five. And unlike firs and spruces, they have two, tree, or five needles coming out of the same spot on each branch, with needles that are softer and more pliant.
Pine-tree bark is jagged and flaky, and while their cones start out green and flexible, they grow brown and woody as they mature. People have actually been putting evergreen trees in their homes since long before the birth of Jesus Christ; they were thought to ward off witches, ghosts, and evil spirits. The trees held particular significance around the time of the winter solstice, when people celebrated the return of the sun; the evergreen-ness of the evergreens was reminiscent of life and growth.
It took a while, however, for Americans to get into the spirit; in , in fact, the court of Massachusetts actually made it illegal to do anything besides attend church on Christmas, and people were fined for having decorations. But after an influx of German and Irish immigrants in the late nineteenth century, Americans finally started to get into the whole decorated-tree tradition, and the modern Christmas era officially began.
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