Cellular Structure Of Hardwood

Structure of a softwood figure 2 is a drawing of the cell structure of a minute block of softwood white pine.

Cellular structure of hardwood.

Wood is a porous three dimensional hydroscopic interconnecting matrix of cellulose hemicelluloses and lignin. Hardwood rays may contain 1 to 30 cells in width average volume is 17 of the xylem can be more than 30. 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. Vessels tracheids fibers and parenchymal cells tracheids are not common.

Each of which may constitute 15 or more of the volume see table 5 1. Hardwood xylem wood is composed of at least 4 major kinds of cells. On page 82 of textbook. According to estimates 1 cubic metre about 35 cubic feet of spruce wood contains 350 billion 500 billion cells.

They can be found around vessels in quercus and as vessel like tracheids in the latewood in ulmus. The draw ing here shows a cube about 1 32 inch on a side. In transverse or cross sections the annual rings appear like concentric bands with rays extending outward like the spokes of a wheel. The basic cell types are called tracheids vessel members fibres and parenchyma.

Hardwood xylem four main cell types. 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. Hardwoods contain vessels softwoods do not. 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. Softwoods which come from conifers such as fir pine and cedar have a simple cellular structure with 90 95 of the cells being longitudinal tracheids. Fig 1 cell structure of a hardwood m 146 682 2 2. Wood wood microstructure.

Fibers act as support tissue with thick and lignified cell walls which may contain small and narrow slitlike pores. In simple terms a tree can be described as a bundle of vessels. Cellular structure of hardwood vs softwood the differences between hardwoods and softwoods come from the difference in their cellular structure.