Conifer Cones

Conifer Cones

Conifers produce male and female "spores" in cones and the seeds are not encased in a fruit. Pollen grains carried by wind to the female cones grow pollen tubes that fertilise the ovules and there are no swimming sperm cells like those of the more primitive plants. This adaptation to living on land together with the seed protection offered by the hard scaly female cone has helped the conifers to be such a successful group. [CH] {EN}