Book Description

Wood anatomy, the study of woody cells and tissues, has advanced considerably since the early descriptive accounts were made which consisted mainly of cataloguing what was 'out there'. Anatomical data have been applied in better understanding of the interrelationships of woody plants, confirming evidence of natural relationships of plant families in combined analyses. This book will serve its purpose well, for Undergraduates of Forestry. Wood is composed mostly of hollow, elongated, spindle-shaped cells that are arranged parallel to each other along the trunk of a tree. The characteristics of these fibrous cells and their arrangement affect strength properties, appearance, resistance to penetration by water and chemicals, resistance to decay, and many other properties. Just under the bark of a tree is a thin layer of cells, not visible to the naked eye, called the cambium. Here cells divide and eventually differentiate to form bark tissue to the outside of the cambium and wood or xylem tissue to the inside. This newly formed wood (termed sapwood) contains many living cells and conducts sap upward in the tree. Eventually, the inner sapwood cells become inactive and are transformed into heartwood. This transformation is often accompanied by the formation of extractives that darken the wood, make it less porous, and sometimes provide more resistance to decay. The center of the trunk is the pith, the soft tissue about which the first wood growth takes place in the newly formed twigs. The book will be helpful in imparting theoretical skills to the students, academicians and teaching faculty of the forestry and agricultural disciplines working in field of woody plants. This book is intended to impart basic education for the UG students of Forestry for the course Wood Anatomy.