WHITEBARK PINE CONES

Description:

A view of the cones of a Whitebark Pine(Pinus albicaulis) They contain large nuts that chipmunks,Red Squirrels,Bears and Clarks Nutcrackers love to eat. Unlike most pines,their cones never fully open, and don't fall to the ground for a long time so that Nutcrackers(see www.flickr.com/photos/bryanto/3787934700/ ) can get to the nuts and disperse them. A symbiotic relationship. They only grow in the Northern Rockies(Wyoming north), and parts of the Cascades and Sierra Nevada's.