Hello list members, I hope that you can solve a childhood mystery for me. I am aware of the fact that there are male and female cones on conifers. Mostly, I see very small male cones depicted. However, when I was growing up in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, I commonly encountered large conifer trees (50 feet tall) in neighboring yards, which had a peculiar male cone attached at the ends of the branches. (I must assume that it was the male cone because there were also present the typical scaly, seed bearing female cones.) These male cones were approximately two inches in length and had rather long, needle-like spines on them. The typical color was a pale pinkish brown. The core of the cone was peppered with holes and the total appearance of it looked "fused together". As a child, I named these peculiar cones "pork-u-pines". I have only see these trees, with their spiny male cones, in Fitchburg. They must be elsewhere, and common. However, I do travel extensively and I have not seen them outside of Fitchburg. I have taken up the habit of trying to spy these trees elsewhere and to take a specimen or a photo. I am as yet empty handed. Is this tree a spruce or a fir? Which species is it? Is there a particular name for this peculiar type of male cone? Is it not a male cone, and perhaps a third kind of "cone" that a conifer can produce? I cannot seem to find photos of this spiny "cone" in any books or on the Internet. Am I imagining what I have seen and collected as a child? Grateful for any leads. Yours truly, Michael LaFosse origamido.com Haverhill, MA USA
Hello Michael, I just found the answer to your (my) question! You (I) have observed, and collected, "Spruce Pine Galls"! These are the product of an insect infestation, of the branch ends on spruce trees, by Adelges cooleyi. The small holes, which you mentioned, are the insects' exit openings from the galls. Yours, serendipitously. Michael LaFosse.
