Cellular Structure Of Hardwood

Cellular structure of hardwood vs softwood the differences between hardwoods and softwoods come from the difference in their cellular structure.

Cellular structure of hardwood.

Fig 1 cell structure of a hardwood m 146 682 2 2. Hardwood xylem four main cell types. According to estimates 1 cubic metre about 35 cubic feet of spruce wood contains 350 billion 500 billion cells. The draw ing here shows a cube about 1 32 inch on a side.

Wood is a porous three dimensional hydroscopic interconnecting matrix of cellulose hemicelluloses and lignin. Hardwoods contain vessels softwoods do not. For simplicity s sake vessel elements will simply be referred to as pores throughout this website. The microscopic cellular structure of wood including annual rings and rays produces the characteristic grain patterns in different species of trees the grain pattern is also determined by the plane in which the logs are cut at the saw mill.

Each of which may constitute 15 or more of the volume see table 5 1. In transverse or cross sections the annual rings appear like concentric bands with rays extending outward like the spokes of a wheel. Wood wood microstructure. Hardwood rays may contain 1 to 30 cells in width average volume is 17 of the xylem can be more than 30.

Represents the transverse section or a plane parallel to the top sur face of a stump or the end sur. Softwoods are made of tracheids and parenchyma and hardwoods of vessel members fibres. Vessel elements are the largest type of cells and unlike the other hardwood cell types they can be viewed individually oftentimes even without any sort of magnification. They can be found around vessels in quercus and as vessel like tracheids in the latewood in ulmus.

In simple terms a tree can be described as a bundle of vessels. Structure of a softwood figure 2 is a drawing of the cell structure of a minute block of softwood white pine. Vessels tracheids fibers and parenchymal cells tracheids are not common. On page 82 of textbook.

The basic cell types are called tracheids vessel members fibres and parenchyma. Hardwood xylem wood is composed of at least 4 major kinds of cells. Cellular structure to understand the behavior of wood and its requirements for long term preservation one can benefit by looking at the physical and cellular structure of a tree.