Expert: Jim Hyland - 4/16/2010

Question
Hello,

I'm trying to find out the name & whatever it is (a pod, pollen, bud, seed? that fall from pine tree's along with the pine needles.

They are reddish/orange in color

soft/brittle in texture

small banana shape

Answer
Pines have both female and male flowers. The female look like small cones and in fact are the cones. The take two years to mature as a cone with seeds. The male flowers are the ones you are talking about. They contain the pollen that fertilizes the female cone. After the pollen has bee dispersed the male flower will drop off. This happens in the early spring.

The technical description goes like this:

The male cone (microstrobilus or pollen cone) is structurally similar across all conifers, differing only in small ways (mostly in scale arrangement) from species to species. Extending out from a central axis are microsporophylls (modified leaves). Under each microsporophyll is one or several microsporangia (pollen sacs).

The female cone (megastrobilus, seed cone, or ovulate cone) contains ovules within which, when fertilized by pollen, become seeds. The female cone structure varies more markedly between the different conifer families, and is often crucial for the identification of many species of conifers.