A spruce tree at the Arboretum has produced a rare batch of half male, half female cones

May 04, 2023

Barbara Moran

Female (left) and male spruce cones at the Arnold Arboretum. Photo by William (Ned) Friedman. — Female (left) and male spruce cones at the Arnold Arboretum. It's a more common sight to see separate male and female cones like this. (Courtesy William "Ned" Friedman)

Every spring the conifer trees at the Arnold Arboretum burst out in buds: hundreds of tiny cones, often bright pink, red or yellow. This year, one young spruce is putting on an extra-special show: most of its cones are rare hermaphrodites.

The Lijiang spruce near the south end of Conifer Path usually puts out two types of cones: some pink, pollen-producing males and some red, seed-making females. But this year most of the buds on the tree are half-pink, half-red; male on the bottom and female on the top.

In botany terms, they're hermaphrodites — not unusual in the plant world, but rare in such abundance for this tree.

"At the Arboretum I’ve seen these cones on this tree before, but I've never noticed such a large proportion of them," said Arnold Arboretum Director William Friedman.

He added that he's "totally obsessed" with budding conifer trees, and especially excited about this one. "It's pretty wonderful stuff," he said.

CAPTION: The three cones on the Lijiang spruce at the Arnold Arboretum. A male, pollen-producing cone is on the left; a female, seed-producing cone is on the right. In the middle is thehermaphrodite cone with pollen-producing structures at the base and seed-producing structures at the top. — Three cones on the celebrity Lijiang spruce at the Arnold Arboretum. On the left is a male, pollen-producing cone; on the right is a female, seed-producing cone. In the middle is the hermaphrodite cone with pollen-producing structures at the base and seed-producing structures at the top. (Courtesy William "Ned" Friedman)

He's not the only one interested — on a recent stroll he saw eight people gathered around the tree.

Friedman says nobody’s sure how or why a tree buds this way. Such events are so rare, that he's not sure what this year's buds mean for the overall health of the tree, its future offspring, or whether it will repeat the same performance next year.

But Friedman says he's glad that the tree is piquing public interest.

"A lot of people probably don't think about the fact that plants have sex," he said. "I mean, humans aren't the only creatures to reproduce! There's an interesting world out there."

Spruce cones in Spring at the Arnold Arboretum. This one has both male and female buds. Photo by William (Ned) Friedman. — Spruce cones in spring at the Arnold Arboretum. This tree has both male and female buds. (Courtesy William "Ned" Friedman)

Friedman said he hopes the tree will help people reflect on nature's many splendid surprises, and also work to protect it.

"I want people to love nature," he said. "You can read a million articles about climate change, but if you don't feel a certain connection to nature, I'm not sure you'll do as much."

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