{"id":1176,"date":"2009-04-04T23:38:53","date_gmt":"2009-04-04T14:38:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2009-04-04\/1176"},"modified":"2009-04-04T23:38:53","modified_gmt":"2009-04-04T14:38:53","slug":"fir-cones-whatever-those-are","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2009-04-04\/1176","title":{"rendered":"Fir Cones (Whatever Those Are)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\nNOTE<\/b>: Images with an icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>640 sec, f<\/span>\/3.5, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nWooden Roses<\/span>\nor, at least, they look like wooden roses\n<\/div>\n\n

When I posted yesterday's “What am I?”\nquiz<\/a>, I did so<\/span> thinking that the answer was “parts of a pine<\/span> cone”, and\nI suspected<\/span> regex.info's resident botanist (“Peter, in Wales”) would\nprovide that answer. Indeed, he provided the\ncorrect answer<\/a>, as did Alexander before him and Earnest after, but it turns out that I would<\/span>\nhave been wrong because the photo does not show parts of a\npine cone<\/b>, but rather of a fir<\/a> cone<\/b>. I had never<\/span> heard\nof such a thing.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>500 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 800 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nFir Cones in a Fir<\/span> Tree<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

The cones are made up of scales, and it seems that they shed off while\nstill on the tree. In the upper<\/span>-left of the shot above, you can see that\none cone has shed about half its scales. The upper<\/span> part of the cone next to\nit is just about ready to shed, it looks like, with lots of space opening\nup among the scales.<\/p>\n\n

Unlike pine cones, these cones protrude up above the branch that hosts\nthem (which is seen more easily in the shot below than above, although they\nare indeed protruding up above their respective branches in the shot\nabove).<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>500 sec, f<\/span>\/5.6, ISO 400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1000 sec, f<\/span>\/4.5, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nGround Littered with Scales<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

The ground under the tree was covered with scales in the same way the\nground under a deciduous<\/span> tree is littered with leaves in the fall... a nice<\/span>\neven coating everywhere. The scales<\/span> are extremely brittle (they have no\n“give”.. they snap with the slightest pressure), so walking on them gives a\ndecidedly<\/span> crisp and pleasing crunching\/crackling sound.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>500 sec, f<\/span>\/6.3, ISO 400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nVestiges of a Former<\/span> Self<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

For reference, here's a cone I snapped a picture<\/span> of elsewhere during my\nwalk...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 60 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>250 sec, f<\/span>\/8, ISO 720 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nDifferent Tree, Different Species, Different Cone<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

I grew up in an area with pine cones, and I'm glad I did,<\/span> because I\nsuspect<\/span> any kid would like pine cones better than these fir cones. Pine\ncones are prefect for throwing at siblings, for example. A fir cone<\/span> would\njust crumble in your hand as you tried to throw it, like a snowball<\/span> on a\nreally<\/span> really really cold day. Useless to a kid.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Anthony and I were out with Arthur and his kids, Monet and May, for a\nwalk<\/span> in the nearby woods. As evidence<\/span> for the previous paragraph, I'll\nnotice that none of the kids paid much attention to the fir cones.<\/p>\n\n

Anthony had borrowed some wheels for the short trip to the park at the\nedge of the woods, and in snapping a shot<\/span> of him on the way back, you can\nsee the tall evergreen that hosted today's cones in the background...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>640 sec, f<\/span>\/3.5, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I posted yesterday's \"What am I?\" quiz, I did so thinking that the answer was \"parts of a pine cone\", and I suspected regex.info's resident botanist (\"Peter, in Wales\") would provide that answer. Indeed, he provided the correct answer, as did Alexander before him and Earnest after, but it turns out that I would have been wrong because the photo does not show parts of a pine cone<\/b>, but rather of a fir cone<\/b>. I had never heard of such a thing.<\/p>

The cones are made up of scales, and it seems that they shed off while still on [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1176"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1176\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}