Seeds have a terrible smell due to the malodorous chemical compound butyric acid, which is found in the integument of the seed. Most are evergreens examples, pines, firs, spruces, junipers, cedars, cypresses, red woods etc. After pollen grains are released the male cone shrivels and falls from the trees. Female cones have megasporangia located within ovules at the bases of the female cone scales. Female cones are much larger than male cones.
Ovules generally occur in pairs.
Three of the megaspores generate. The remaining megaspore develops by repeated mitotic divisions into a female gametophyte. Two to three archegonia develop within the multi-cellular gametophyte facing the micropyle. Each archegonia contains a single large egg. Pollen enters ovule through micropyle and germinates, forming a pollen tube that begins to digest its way through the nucellus towards the area where the archegonia are found.