Wood

Material & Process

Soft central core of a tree.

Pith

In which layers does tree growth occur?

The part of the tree that is created wood products.

xylem

Sapwood = living xylem. Heartwood = dead, structural xylem.

What is the thin layer of living cells just outside the sapwood (xylem) that generates new wood cells and gives wood its grain?

Cambium

it produces new xylem (wood) and a smaller number of ray cells, creating the growth rings and wood grain.

Dead tree cells that no longer serve any purpose except to support the tree.

Heartwood

What cells, produced by the cambium, extend out from the pith perpendicular to the tree’s axis, and in hollow form store plant sugars?

Ray cells

they radiate outward from the pith and serve in storage and lateral transport.

Which layer covers the cambium, transfers food and nutrients from the leaves to the rest of the tree, and forms part of the protective bark?

Phloem (inner bark)

It conducts sugars from the leaves and protects the cambium.

When the cambium grows rapidly at the beginning of each growing season, what kind of wood does it create within the xylem?

Earlywood (springwood)

light-colored, less dense wood formed in the spring.

As the climate warms later in the growing season, the cambium slows down and produces darker wood that is denser and harder than earlywood. What is this called?

Latewood (summerwood)

darker, denser growth formed later in the season.