What is wood?

What is wood?

wood  

/wo͝od/

Noun The hard fibrous material that forms the main substance of the trunk or branches of a tree or shrub. Such material when cut and used as timber or fuel.

Synonyms forest - timber - woods - lumber

FACTS:

It is renewable, biodegradable, non-toxic, energy efficient and greenhouse gas friendly.


HARDWOOD:
Hardwoods (angiosperms) have broad-leaved foliage, and tend to be deciduous—that is, they lose their leaves in the autumn. (However, many tropical hardwood species exist which are evergreen—they maintain their leaves year-round.) Additionally, hardwood trees tend to have a branched or divided trunk, referred to as a dendritic form.

SOFTWOOD:

Softwoods (conifers) tend to have needle or scale-like foliage, though in some uncommon instances, they can have rather broad, flat leaves, such as Kauri. Most softwood trees are evergreen, however, some conifers such as larchor cypress lose their foliage in the autumn, (hence the common name “bald-cypress”).

http://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/what-is-wood/

http://www.rfs.org.uk/learning/what-wood

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood