THE PEDUNCLE.
All conelets are pedunculate, but in some species the peduncle, even when long (patula), may become overgrown and concealed by the basal scales of the ripe cone. Articulation usually takes place between the peduncle and the branch, sometimes with the loss of a few basal scales which remain temporarily on the tree (ponderosa, palustris, etc.). With P. Nelsonii, and to a less degree with P. Armandi, there is articulation between the cone and its peduncle.
There are several species bearing persistent cones with no articulation. This condition appears in other genera, such as Larix and Picea, but without obvious significance. In Pinus, however, the gradual appearance of the persistent cone, for it is rare, common, prevalent or invariable in different species, and its essential association with the serotinous cone, suggest an evolution toward a definite end.
THE UMBO.
The exposed part of the scale of the conelet is the umbo of the ripe cone, a small definite area representing the earlier part of the biennial growth of the cone. The position of the umbo on the apophysis is the basis of Koehne's subdivision of the section Haploxylon.
| 1. Umbo terminal | Subsection Cembra | fig. 46-a. |
| 2. Umbo dorsal | Subsection Paracembra | fig. 46-b. |
Two other characters assist in establishing these subsections—the conelet, unarmed in Cembra, armed in Paracembra—the pits of the ray-cells of the wood, large in Cembra, small in Paracembra.
THE APOPHYSIS.
The apophysis represents the later and larger growth of the cone-scale. With a terminal umbo the margin of the apophysis is free and may be rounded (fig. 49) or may taper to a blunt point (fig. 52), and any extension of the scale is a terminal extension. With the dorsal umbo all sides of the apophysis are confined between other apophyses, and any extension is a dorsal thickening of the apophysis or a dorsal protuberance. The outline of an apophysis with a dorsal umbo is quadrangular, or it is irregularly pentagonal or hexagonal, the different forms depending on the arrangement of the contiguous scales, whether of definite or indefinite phyllotactic order, a distinction to be considered later.