1. Forestry 280 Features of Woods 48-56

2. #48: Sassafras Sassafras albidum
Avg. SG: 0.45
Heartwood Color: Grey or grayish brown
Heartwood Odor: Spicy odor and taste
Pore Distribution: Ring-porous
Earlywood: 3-8 pores wide; pores medium to large
Latewood: Pores solitary and in radial multiples of 2-3, forming fine tangential lines in outer latewood
Tyloses: Fairly abundant
Rays: Barely visible to eye

3. #49: Black Cherry Prunus serotina
Avg. SG: 0.50
Heartwood Color: Light to dark cinnamon or reddish brown
Pore Distribution: Diffuse-porous
Pores: Pores through growth ring solitary and in radial or irregular multiples and small clusters
Gum Defects: Common
Rays: Not visible on tangential surface; conspicuous light ray fleck on radial surfaces; distinct whitish lines across transverse surface (distinct to naked eye)

4. #51: Common Persimmon Diospyros virginiana
Heartwood Color: Core dark, nearly black
Sapwood Color: Creamy white, darkening to yellow or light grey
Pore Distribution: Semi-ring-porous
Pores: Largest pores medium to large, thick walled; appear to be relatively few; solitary or in radial multiples
Tyloses: Occasionally present
Parenchyma: Fine tangential lines
Rays: Fine, visible w/lens
Ripple Marks: On tangential surfaces; denotes storied structure

5. #52: Eastern Cottonwood Populus deltoides
Avg. SG: 0.40
Heartwood Color: Grayish to light grayish brown, sometimes with olive cast
Odor: Moist wood with foul odor (not universal)
Pore Distribution: Diffuse-porous or semi-diffuse porous
Pores: Medium to small, solitary and in radial multiples of 2 to several
Rays: Very fine, not easily seen with lens

6. #54: Black Willow Salix nigra
Avg. SG: 0.39
Heartwood Color: Light brown to pale reddish or grayish brown, frequently with dark streaks
Pore Distribution: Diffuse-porous to semi-diffuse-porous
Pores: Medium to small, usually with apparent size gradation from earlywood to latewood, solitary and in multiples of 2 to several. Pores typically much more visible (larger) than in cottonwood and aspen
Rays: Very fine, barely visible w/hand lens

7. #53: Quaking Aspen Populus tremuloides
Avg. SG: 0.38
Heartwood Color: Creamy white to light grayish brown
Pore Distribution: Diffuse-porous
Pores: Small to very small, w/gradation from earlywood to latewood, solitary and in multiples of 2 to several
Rays: Very fine, not easily seen w/hand lens
NOTE: Don’t separate #52 and #53

8. #55: American Hornbeam Carpinus caroliniana
Heartwood Color: Pale yellowish or brownish white
Pore Distribution: Diffuse-porous
Pores: Indistinct without a hand lens
Rays: Two types: Narrow and aggregate; wide aggregate rays are fairly abundant
Other: Wood heavy and hard; often has wavy growth ring boundaries

9. #56: Eastern Hophornbeam Ostrya virginiana
Heartwood Color: Whitish to light brown tinged with red
Pore Distribution: Diffuse-porous
Pores: Indistinct or barely visible to the eye; often aggregated into flame-shaped groups
Rays: Fine, indistinct, closely spaced (NOTE: no aggregate rays as in #55)
Other: Wood heavy and very hard; growth rings often with “ragged contours”

10. Acknowledgement Photomacrographs by Zach Kriess
Supplemental photomacrographs (those with white text showing scientific name) courtesy of the USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory