Wood Flashcards
The tough, fibrous cellular substance that makes up most of the stems and branches of trees beneath the bark.
Wood
The tough external covering of a woody stem, branch or root, composed of a living inner layer called phloem and an outer bark or corky, dead tissue.
Bark
A layer of tissue that carries food from the leaves to the growing parts of a tree.
Phloem, inner bark
A thin layer of reproductive tissue between the phloem and xylem, which produces new phloem on the outside and new xylem on the inside of stems, branches, and roots.
cambium
The soft, central core about which first growth takes place in a newly formed stem.
Pith
The woody tissue of a tree that provides support and conducts water and mineral nutrients upward from the roots.
Xylem
An organic substance that, with cellulose, forms the woody cell walls of plants and the cementing material between them.
Lignin
An inert carbohydrate that is the chief constituent of the cell walls of plants and of dried woods, jute, hemp, and cotton, used in the manufacture of a wide variety of synthetic building materials.
Cellulose
The younger, softer, living portion of wood between the cambium and heartwood, comparable in strength to heartwood but usually lighter in color, more permeable, and less durable.
Sapwood, Alburnum
The older, harder, inactive core of a tree, usually darker, denser, and more durable than the surrounding sapwood.
Heartwood, duramen
A concentric layer of wood produced during a single year’s growth of a temperate tree.
Annual ring, growth ring
The softer, more porous portion of an annual ring that develops early in the growing season, characterized by large, thin-walled cells.
Springwood, early wood
The harder, darker, less porous portion of an annual ring that develops late in the growing season, characterized by compact, thick-walled cells.
Summerwood, late wood
The wood from a conifer. The term is not descriptive of the actual softness of the wood.
Softwood
Any of various predominantly evergreen, cone-bearing trees, such as pine, fir, hemlock and spruce.
Conifer
Having foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year or through more than one growing season.
Evergreen
A tubular, intercellular space in a woody stem that secretes resins, esp in conifers.
Resin duct, resin canal
A viscous, clear to translucent, organic substance exuded by certain pines, used in makng varnishes, adhesives and plastics.
Resin
The resinous sap that exudes from various conifers.
Pitch
One of the elongated, supporting and conductive cells in woody tissue, having tapering closed ends and lignified walls oriented parallel to the axis of a stem or branch.
Tracheid
A tubular structure of woody tissue for conducting water and mineral nutrients, formed by the fusion and loss of end walls in a series of connected cells.
Vessel
One of the vertical bands of transverse cells that radiate between pith and bark for the storage and horizontal conduction of nutrients.
Ray
One of the relatively large vertical cells for conducting sap, esp in hardwood trees.
Pore
The vital flud of water, nitrogen, and mineral nutrients that circulates through a plant.
Sap































