milky white, while the embryo becomes cream-coloured or light yellow. At maturity, the testa darkens rapidly from light brown to dark brown or black. Mature seeds “snaps in two” when cut by a sharp knife on a firm surface. White spruce cones reach their maximum size after 800 GDD. Cone moisture content decreases gradually after about 1000 GDD. Cone colour also can be used to help determine the degree of maturation, but cones may be red, pink or green. Collection and storage dates and conditions influence germination requirements and early seedling growth. A bushel (35 L) of cones, which may contain 6500 to 8000 cones, yields of clean seed. Seed dispersal begins after cone scales reflex with cone maturation in the late summer or early fall of the year of formation. Cones open at moisture contents of 45% to 70% and specific gravities of 0.6 to 0.8. Weather affects both the initiation and pattern of seed dispersal, but cone opening and the pattern of seed dispersal can vary among trees in the same stand. Even after dispersal has begun, cold, damp weather will cause cone scales to close; they will reopen during dry weather. Most seed falls early rather than late, but dispersal may continue through fall and winter and even into the next growing season. Seed dispersal occurs mainly in late summer or early fall. White spruce seed is initially dispersed through the air by wind. Both the initiation and pattern of seed dispersal depend on the weather, but these can vary among trees in the same stand. Small amounts of white spruce seed are normally dispersed beyond 100 m from the seed source, but exceptionally seeds have been found more than 300–400 m from the nearest seed source. Root system The root system of white spruce is highly variable and adaptable, responding to a variety of edaphic factors, especially soil moisture, soil fertility, and mechanical impedance. On soils that limit rooting depth, the root system is plate-like, but it is a common misconception to assume that white spruce is genetically constrained to develop plate-like root systems irrespective of soil conditions. In the nursery, or naturally in the forest, white spruce usually develops several long 'running' roots just below the ground surface. The structure of the tracheids in the long lateral roots of white spruce varies with soil nitrogen availability. Stem White spruce can live for several hundred years,