A couple of weeks ago we had some fairly vigorous winds near Portland Oregon During the cleanup, I picked up and photographed a couple of these “kernels” that blew down from the trees. We have large Doug Fir and Western Red Cedar on the property. I think these are from the Doug Fir. They’re much smaller than the male pollen cones that blow down in the spring. Are they the immature form? For reference, I photographed these on a piece of paper towel. They are a bit bigger than a piece of coarsely ground peppercorn. There are millions on the ground and I’m still cleaning them up Thoughts?
Immature pollen cones, from something in the Cupressaceae; likely Western Redcedar if that's what you have in the area. The immature cones expand quite a lot when they mature and shed their pollen later in the spring, hence the size discrepancy you noted.
Thanks so much. I was just curious and it seems like the volume of what I’m seeing this year is much greater than previous years, though that not might not actually be the case. (Completely covering part of the driveway.) I was reading online about mast year so maybe that’s what I’m seeing. Are you able to say if these immature cones are male or female. Thanks for the info. I’ll keep reading.
