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autumn foliage at Mt Othaka in Japan, the red trees were a great background for the fir trees. They were mostly Sorbus trees.
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This was a lovely conifer in a broad leaved forest.
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Pinus halepensis is named after the syrian town of Aleppo (Haleb), but its main distribution is in the west Mediterranean. Interestingly it is the only native pine in Israel (besides Syria). Its identifying character is the cones that are growing in a sharp angle to the stem.
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These r the younr femal cones.
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this is a young female cone of a cycad (Encephalartos ferox).
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This is the commonest pine in Israel. It is usually planted, but there are some natural groves. You can identify it by the sharp angle between the cone and the stem. The species is commoner in the west Mediterranean region.
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and a closer look ...
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Ephedra aphylla is a common leaning shrub in the Middle East deserts. Here you can see its fleshy cones. They attract birds that enjoy the pulp and disperse the seeds.
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Under mighty Pinus jeffreyi trees we saw theur seeds germinating. It is really worth wile to lay doen and look at this miracle of life. How a multi-cotyledon seedling is developing, pushing the seed coat upwards.
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Abies mariesii forest was found at the altitude of 1500-1700m. The trees were not very high due to the strong winds of this slope. Nevertheless some had cones.
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Ephedra aphylla is a common leaning shrub in the Middle East deserts. Here you can see its fleshy cones. They attract birds that enjoy the pulp and disperse the seeds.
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I enjoyed these huge cones of Pinus jeffreyi in the high latitude conifer forest above Palms Springs.
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This Australian conifer has large impressive cones.
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Ephedra foliata is a leaning shrub of the extreme desert. Here u can see the male cones.
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This is the Pinus nigra forest on top of Mt Trodoos after a late snow storm.
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This is one of the largest cedar trees in the Median Atlas Mts. u can also see og the right a deciduous oak.
There is also a person on the right, so u can feel how tall is the tree.
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This is a strange Ephedra, a dwarf shrub, attached to the stony grounds of Ladakh.
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This pine is easy yo identify, it has long-narrow pending cones.
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There are magnificent Himalayan Cedar forests around Manali.
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Its the first time I see the fruits of this special tree, back home in Israel we have only young trees that do not flower yet.
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This is the most widespread pine in the world ranging from Scotland to the Far East.
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Cedar forests on the mountains above Kalkan
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Pinus torreyana is a dark needled pine, confined to a handful of sites in S California.
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Platycladus orientalis is a Chinese cinfer. It has typical spreading cones.