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The 7 Best Pinecones (Really!)

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Written by
Melissa Petruzzello
Melissa Petruzzello is Assistant Managing Editor and covers a range of content including plants, algae, and fungi; insects and spiders; and renewable energy and environmental engineering. She also handles...
Melissa Petruzzello
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Growing up in California, I had a lot of exposure to some really amazing natural areas. Always a lover of plants, I had a pinecone collection as a kid and took pride in knowing facts about the trees from which they came. Here’s a list of some of my favorites. They are cooler than you think. I promise!

  • The Heavyweight: Coulter Pine (Pinus coulteri)

    Coulter Pine (Pinus coulteri) or big-cone pine on a pine tree. Named after Thomas Coulter. Coulter Pine cone.
    Coulter pinePinecone of a Coulter pine (Pinus coulteri). Known colloquially as “widow-makers,” these cones are the most massive of any pine species and can weigh up to 5 kg (11 pounds).
    NNehring—iStock/Getty Images

    Coulter pines, native to the mountains of southern California (U.S.) and Baja California (Mexico), produce the most-massive cones of any pine species. Known colloquially as “widow-makers,” those giant pinecones can weigh up to 5 kg (11 pounds)! They also feature large talonlike scales and can be covered in a thick sticky resin. Giant spiky sticky pinecones that could maybe kill you? Awesome.

  • The Pyro: Lodgepole Pine (Pinus contorta)

    Lodgepole Pine cones (Pinus contorta) on a pine tree July 26, 2011. pine cone.
    lodgepole pinePinecones of a lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta). These seratinous cones are sealed with resin that melts when heated by wildfire, allowing the seeds to be released.
    Sandy Rae

    Lodgepole pines grow in fire-prone areas of the western United States and are specially adapted to natural wildfire regimes. Those ingenious plants produce serotinous pinecones that are completely sealed with resin, allowing them to persist on the trees for many years. The cones require the intense heat of a wildfire to melt the resin and open the cone, allowing the seeds to be dispersed in rich ash-fertilized soil that has been cleared of competing understory plants. Aw, even plant parents want to give their offspring the best chance of success!

  • The Tastiest: Pinyon Pine (Pinus edulis)

    Pinyon Cone with pine nuts on pine tree. Pinyon Pine (Pinus edulis). Pinyon Pine cone. Pine nut.
    pinyon pinePine cone and exposed seeds of the pinyon pine (Pinus edulis). Pinyon pines are gymnosperms and bear their edible seeds, known as pine nuts, in protective cones instead of fruit.
    Doak Heyser—iStock/Thinkstock

    Do you love pesto? Then you can probably thank the Italian stone pine (P. pinea) or the Korean pine (P. koraiensis) for their tasty commercialized seeds. However, if you live in the southwestern United States, you might be able to collect your own pine nuts from the pinyon (or piñon) pine. Pinyons are short scrubby pines with adorable small cones, and each scale is practically bursting with a delicious edible seed! The cones and their seeds are important to a number of Native American peoples and are widely collected throughout the plant’s range.

  • The Popular: Monterey Pine (Pinus radiata)

    Third year Monterey Pine (Pinus radiata) pine tree at the marina in California's Morro Bay State Park March 21, 2009. Most cultivated pine in the world. pine cone.
    Monterey pineCone of a Monterey pine (Pinus radiata). Grown for both lumber and pulp, Monterey pines are the most-cultivated pine species in the world.
    devra

    Although the beautiful Monterey pine has a native range of only a few specific regions along the California coast, it is one of the most widely planted timber pines in the world. The cones can persist on the tree for several years, opening and closing repeatedly in response to humidity or fire. Each cone can produce up to 200 seeds! The tree is grown in Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Chile, Spain, and the United States, among other countries, so holding the cone of a Monterey pine is practically a trip around the world…or something.

  • The Old: Bristlecone Pine (Pinus longaeva)

    Bristlecone Pine (Pinus longaeva) on a pine tree. Bristlecone Pine cone.
    bristlecone pineOpen and closed pine cones of the Great Basin bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva).
    Rick Horn —iStock/Thinkstock

    The Great Basin bristlecone pine has the longest life span of any non-clonal organism. One individual in eastern Nevada is known to be more than 5,000 years old! The small trees are often scraggly and windblown and get their name from the small bristles on the scales of the female cones. Although obviously not every bristlecone pine tree is ancient, each pinecone serves as a little connection between the species’ amazing history and its future. How cool is that?

  • The Lengthy: Sugar Pine (Pinus lambertiana)

    Pine cones of a Sugar Pine (Pinus lambertiana) longest cone of any conifer on a pine tree, June 9, 2003. pine cone.
    sugar pinePine cones of a sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana). The female cones of the sugar pine are the longest of any pine species, reaching up to 61 cm (24 inches) in length.
    Richard Sniezko/US Forest Service

    The sugar pine is one of the tallest and most-massive pine species, reaching up to 70 meters (230 feet) tall with a trunk diameter of up to 3.5 meters (11.5 feet). The distinctive tree can be found from Oregon through California and northern Mexico, and it gets its name from the sweet resin that crystallizes around wounds in the bark. In addition to being the largest pine, sugar pines produce the longest cones of any species, up to 61 cm (24 inches) long! Go big or go home, I guess.

  • The Male?

    Pollen blowing from the cone of a lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta), also called tamarack pine or shore pine. Native to western North America, cultivated in New Jersey.
    Wind pollinationWindblown pollen from the male cone of a lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta).
    © Photoshot - NHPA/SuperStock

    Most people think of a female cone when they think of pinecones, but every pine species also produces small male cones. All that sperm-laden airborne pollen has to come from somewhere! Male pinecones are delicate and hard to collect, so be sure to keep an eye out for them next time you pass a pine tree. Those little guys are working hard!