Pine trees (the genus Pinus) are distinguished from all other trees by: 1 having uncovered seeds borne in pairs on the bracts of (female) cones (as do other genera of the Pinaceae family) and 2 narrow leaves ("needles") arranged in bundles of 2 to 5 and with a permanent or deciduous sheath at their bases. Such bundles of needles are called fascicles (after the bundle of sticks around the axe which represented the power of the Roman senate). There are usually 2 to 5 leaves per fascicle (very rarely 1, or 6 to 8). The individual needles in one fascicle, when viewed in cross section, are like pie-shaped segments which fit together form a complete circle. Therefor each needle has a hemispherical cross section (if there are 2 needles per fascicle) or triangular cross section (if there are 3 or more needles per fascicle).




I was just thinking about pine trees for some reason =|