Pine Cones

You made it!

I'm liking my new blog address. Hopefully you do to.

So to celebrate I'm sharing a science/nature thingy. One I am sure you all know..



This lesson came to me in the shower. Literally.


So Miss G brings a Pinecone into the shower. While I'm in there.(do mum's ever get a break?)
Random I know, but I'm sure I've shared the shower with worse things.


I say to her, "Oh you know if a pinecone gets wet, it closes up"


Later The Mr says "Really? I didn't know that."


And so begins our nature lesson for the day.

(I like it when I know something he does not. Sort of a competition here. Whenever I hear of something, he usually already knows about it! I love it when I got some info he doesn't lol. Or maybe my primary school was littered with pinecones and I just know this piece of random information.)


We filled a bowl with water a place the pinecone in. It doesn't take long to start to close up.



We left it in for a day because we wanted it nice and closed.


The next day we left it out to dry and by the end of the day it was completely open again.

Ahh wondeful nature


The girls asked why and I said it must close to protect itself from rains and floods?? Anyway I googled this info for why it happens - just as I thought.

The reason why the pine cones open when it's warm and dry is because that's a more favorable condition for the seed dispersal and germination," Read said. Wet and cold weather would prevent the seeds, which are often winged, from spreading far enough from the tree to find a place to grow. Seedlings also wouldn't last long in winter rain or snow.

After a pine cone falls from the tree, it can still open and close. The scales open when dry because their outer halves shrink more than their inner halves, and they pull away from the cone. When wet, the scales swell shut.

Are there lessons to be learnt from Pinecones?