The Pine Cone Pineapple

A closeup of pine cones, which were more interesting than I thought, because they look like pineapples.

And yes, the word history connects the two.

Pine cones were at one time called pineapples. The tropical fruit was called pineapples because it reminded them of the pine cones which, at that time, were called pineapples not pine cones.

Got that. heh heh. My wording is a little silly on purpose.

Anyway, who knew.

Why "apple"? The word "apple" was used in a more general "fruit" sense.

Even today there are things like
"oak apple"
"earth apple"
"cashew apple"
which aren't apples in the more narrow sense.

Ref:
Pineapples first grew on pine trees

Hey, the Garden of Eden "fruit" become an "apple" somewhere along the way. What does this have to do with pine cones and pineapples, I'm not sure. My brain just retrieved some trivia.

These wonderful "pineapples" were at the top of a very t-a-l-l evergreen tree.



And what kind of evergreen tree?
Colorado Blue Spruce. (The tips look more blue green than the rest of the tree at the moment.)

I was reading verbiage online about how to tell the difference between evergreen trees.
Just a bunch of text, blah blah.
And then I found this:



Well there ya go. (More tree pics at that link.)

One of my little chipping sparrow pics featured a wonderful ponderosa pine:



See also
Conifers tag at Botany Photo of the Day.

I found the comment on Juniper cones (berry-like) interesting:

Juniper cones do indeed look like berries, and are often called by that name. But the resemblance to a berry is only superficial. A close examination of a juniper "berry" reveals that it is actually composed of fused cone scales. Instead of being woody, like other cones of other cypress family members, the cone scales of a juniper are fleshy, further reinforcing the notion of a berry. Of course, the word "cone" is somewhat misleading in this case, as juniper cones aren't cone shaped!

Botany Photo of the Day, Conifers tag, FAVS:
Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca
Larix speciosa
Pinus wallichiana
Cunninghamia lanceolata 'Glauca'