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Ancestor: Unknown

Older maps:

Maximum Height: 30m

Life Cycle: Cones are the many, renewable reproductive structures found at the ends of branches all over tree. There are two types of cones, male and female. Both types of cone can be found on the same tree but female cones are more likely to be found near the top while male cones are likely to be found in lower branches. They both require the winter to develop and open in spring. Male cones produce pollen which is powdery and carries easily in a light breeze, female cones receive pollen which fertilizes the seeds, which develop inside the cone. Then the male cones drop off while the fertilised female cones develop seeds until late summer and early autumn, when the cones ripen to release the winged seeds.

While young trees can technically survive in a number of habitats, their mortality rate is significant without shelter from the elements and mammals.

An asexual form of reproduction, argued not true reproduction but the expansion of the organism, is "layering". A low branch always in contact with the wet soil begins to grow roots while the branch itself begins to grow a row of new vertical trees along it's horizontal length. Fallen trees can also re-establish this way and grow more mass than before.

Other: The height and density of foliage can vary a lot depending on habitat, as the viable habitat range is diverse.

This species on Earth and on Planet Cat Sanctuary is able to tolerate temperatures as low as -30°C and can survive the polar winter encased in frozen snow.

In certain habitats such as those with poor soil or a lot of exposure the trees may grow in stands, a small community of closely situated trees, and sometimes even the same tree with multiple apical shoots that appear like multiple trees. Together they give each other more protection than one solitary tree.

Subspecies:

100,000 Yh:

• P. m. borealis - The least genetically changed of the subspecies that occupies Norpolarica, a continent that caps the planet at the North.

• P. m. tropicae - Neapolarican subspecies that is more adapted for hot weather, given that there is enough water where evaporated water-filled air meets the mountains and feeds rivers around. Has thermal adaptations such as greater height, less near-ground foliage and longer leaves with a slightly broadened tip. Branches and leaves are also less dense to allow air to flow through easily. Fires (dry seasons + frequent electrical storms) sweep through the forests, meadows within the forests and surrounding grasslands so readily that the cones have become reliant on burning to prime for opening. This subspecies is more regenerative than the others, it needs to be as burns happen every year. They are more susceptible to cancerous galls and abnormal regrowth as a trade-of for being more regenerative, such is the intensity of burning and the benefit of being able to recover from it.

• P.m. catlandus - Catland subspecies isolated by geography. It's range is restricted to the South Central where the climate is cool enough to support them. They are isolated further into three separate populations a, b and c that have some genetic distance but are not distant enough to be subspecies. They fare better in mountainous terrain than competition species such as giant elder shrubs with aggressive, mat-like shallow root growth  more so than the ancestor species. They also auto-prune more readily in wind and don't regrow where pruned,  resulting in remaining branches being those that sweep in the direction of the prevailing wind. With less wind resistance trees are less likely to fall.

Trivia:

• The largest individual organisms on Planet Cat Sanctuary from 450 Yh  to 100,000 yh are black spruces.