The Secret of the Cone Scales

After a short morning shower, the Wusel Forest smelled of moss and fresh bark. Puschel placed two fallen, ripe pine cones on a tree stump. Each cone had lots of little hard plates called scales. One cone was dry and wide open. Rain drops sparkled on the other, and its scales sat close together.

Puschel“The cone on the left is making itself enormous. The one on the right has curled up. Is it cold?”

Flauschi smiled and held the two cones beside each other. Puschel picked up the green explorer’s magnifying glass and studied the open scales first, then the closed ones.

Flauschi“It is not cold. These pine cones close their scales when they get damp. The scales open again as they dry.”

Puschel held a paw to his ear. He had hoped to hear a creak, but the scales moved so slowly that even his sharpest explorer’s ears heard nothing.

Puschel“So the cone moves even though it has no legs or muscles? That is wonderfully wuselig.”

Flauschi explained that each scale has thin layers inside. They soak up water and grow thicker by different amounts. This makes the scale bend. In dry weather, many ripe cones open. The wind can then carry away the little winged seeds. A seed can later grow into a new tree.

Flauschi“The tree prefers to send its seeds travelling when rain will not press them straight to the ground.”

Puschel imagined tiny seed gliders sailing above the forest. Then they returned both cones to the exact places where they had found them.

Puschel“Today we found a weather indicator with no pointer. Tomorrow I will see whether it has opened again!”