Wood Anatomy Links

Wood Collection Catalogs

Wood Collection Catalogs, General Information, Course Materials, Nomenclature Taxonomy As a service to the wood anatomical community, some of the world's largest wood collections have made their catalogs available and searchable on the web. The curators of these collections will provide sectioning blocks for research projects, especially systematic wood anatomical studies, usually with the proviso that a set of slides made from these blocks be deposited in the collection.

The xylarium of the Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute (TWTw), Tsukuba, Japan, has a specimen database of Japanese woods (20,500 specimens). This database has detailed records and shows specimen no. (TWTw No.), family name, species name, original wood specimen no. (original wood specimen no. for specimens obtained from other xylarium; collection date, collector(s), herbarium no. of the voucher specimen, herbarium housing the voucher specimen, provenance, country, altitude, latitude, longitude, habit, habitat, various notes, and note on collection or accession. There is also a multiple-entry identification page, using IAWA hardwood list features and an image database for Japanese woods showing surface views of wood specimens (macroscopic), optical microscopic images, and herbarium vouchers. For some specimens, there are SEM images and photos of branches and woods taken in the field at the time of collection.

The Tervuren Xylarium, Laboratory for Wood Biology, Royal Museum of Central Africa, Belgium, specializes in woods from tropical Africa, but is worldwide in coverage. The collection has 48, 114 specimens representing 16,245 species. The collection is searchable by scientific or common name.

Center for Wood Anatomy Research, USDA Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, Wisconsin, USA. The searchable Madison wood collection (MADw) has 49,322 samples, and the Samuel J. Record collection (SJRw) numbers about 55,000 samples. [Note: this web site varies in accessability].

Nationaal Herbarium Nederland, Utrecht, The Netherlands, has a searchable collection of 34,750 samples and 6392 images (cross and tangential sections), making this a virtual reference slide collection and a wonderful resource when trying to identify wood from its microscopic anatomy. [Note: these images also are available through the Inside Wood web site].

Wood Collection (USw) of the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC [42,500 specimens representing almost 3000 genera].

Oxford Forestry Institute Xylarium (FHOw) 24,343 samples, 10,678 species, 2,719 genera. There are alphabetical lists of the genera and collectors represented in the collection, and the number of accessions for each genus and collector.

Photographic Atlases and Identification Keys

The Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) offers two image databanks:
1. Dendrochronological image databank which offers "1400 dendrochronological relevant pictures", that can be searched by the categories: anatomy, morphology, growth zones, taxonomy, geography, modifying factors, denatured wood (e.g., charcoal, subfossil), methods (e.g. dendrometer), scale (landscacpe, whole plant). Each image is accompanied by explanatory text.
2. The Xylem Databank offers images of tree rings and wood anatomy of herbs, dwarf shrubs, shrubs and trees from arid, subtropical, temperate and boreal zones, from nearly 40 families. Photos of transverse, tangential and radial sections taken in normal and polarized light are available, and accompanied by applicable IAWA Hardwood List feature numbers and information on the species size, habitat, and geographic distribution.

Microscopic Anatomy of Central European Species by Schoch,W., Heller,I., Schweingruber, F.H.,Kienast, F., 2004. "This Web-based identification key is a completely revised (text, key) and updated (more and new photographs and new anatomic items) version of the book by Schweingruber F.H., 1990: Microscopic Wood Anatomy; Structural variability of stems and twigs in recent and subfossil woods from Central Europe. 3rd edition 1990. Birmensdorf, WSL. This paper version can still be purchased"

Commercial Timbers: Descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information. H.G. Richter & M.J. Dallwitz. About 160 entries, covering 340 taxa. The ID key (IDENT of DELTA package) is not platform independent, and not web-useable, descriptions (based on the IAWA list) and illustrations are accessible on the web. Useful when verifying identification of a commercially important wood and for retrieving descriptions of commercially important woods.

A pdf of a CITES Identification Guide for Tropical Woods is available.

Prof. T. Itoh published descriptions of 500 Japanese tree species in Japanese, the illustrations from his publications have all been scanned and are available from the web site of the former Wood Research Institute of Kyoto University, now called Research Institute for Sustainable Humanosphere. Professor's Itoh's images are in the Anatomy of Japanese Hardwood database of the site.

Macrographs of North American Woods, from Romeyn B. Hough's 1888 'American Woods,' a 14-volume set (25 species per volume), each 'species' page contained actual radial, tangential, and cross-sections of wood. Tree species east of the Rocky Mountains. The species names are the ones used by Hough in 1888. [Note: these images, with currently used names, also are available on the InsideWood site]

The Tree Collection, Florida State University. Includes cross, radial, and tangential sections for about 50 common US woods, accompanied by an abstract of information about the particular tree.

"Through the generosity of the BSA Teaching Section, BSA Education Committee and individual donors, the Botanical Society of America has made a collection of approximately 800 images available for instructional use." This Online Image Collection includes images for "Plant Anatomy" and "Xylem Development"

General Information

Wood Collection Catalogs, General Information, Course Materials,Nomenclature & Taxonomy

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Plant Micromorphology Bibliographic Database- "a database of references relevant to the anatomy and pollen/spore morphology of flowering plants, gymnosperms and ferns." An extremely useful for finding references on wood anatomy, an extension of Mary Gregory's 1994 Bibliography of systematic wood anatomy of dicotyledons. IAWA J., Suppl. 1, 265 p. Database is searchable by family or genus.

Center for Wood Anatomy Research, USDA Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, Wisconsin, USA. with an index to common names, databases with information on physical/mechanical properties of US and Tropical Woods, sources for wood id kits, information on how to prepare samples for identification.

Science of Dendrochronology. The "Ultimate Tree Ring Web Site" -- an extensive site with many many links to information related to dendrochronology. Materials for teachers, interactive pages with questions for students, and much much more. Henri D. Grissino-Mayer, Department of Geography, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, 37996, USA

Gymnosperm Database edited by Christopher Earle.Descriptions (about 1000 taxa), information on the classification and ecology of gymnosperms, many images.

Links for Paleobotanists provides annotated links on teaching documents, microscopy, plant anatomy, many of which are useful for courses with sections on wood structure and properties. This index is compiled and maintained by Klaus-Peter Kelber, Mineralogisches Institut, Universitat Wusrzburg, Germany.

The Angiosperm Phylogeny web site (developed by Peter Stevens, Missouri Botanic Gardens) is an invaluable resource for current information on the characteristics of orders, families, and their relationships. Updated on a regular basis.

The Agroforestry Tree Database and the World Dictionary of Trees provide information on physical / mechanical properties and tree characteristics.

Course Materials

Wood Collection Catalogs, General Information, Course Materials, Nomenclature & Taxonomy

Wood Anatomy / Wood Science Courses

Wood Anatomy and Identification. NC State University, Raleigh, NC. An introductory web-delivered course, content reached from syllabus. Image-intensive so a high-speed connection is recommended, especially for the accompanying slide sets. Elisabeth Wheeler.

PDFs of slide sets prepared by EA Wheeler and used in an Oct. 2009. Short Course "WOOD IDENTIFICATION FOR FLOORING PROFESSIONALS" Course conducted by Wood Products Extension, N.C. State University
   Set 1: Names and basics of wood anatomy. 1.8 MB PDF
   Set 2: Brief introduction to softwoods 1.7 MB PDF
   Set 3: Hardwood anatomy basics for handlens identification 2.1 MB PDF
   Set 4: InsideWood and miscellaneous hardwood features 2.6 MB PDF

If you are using the "IAWA list of microscropic features for hardwood identification" in your teaching, here are some SLIDE SETS to accompany use of the booklet. These pdf's are best downloaded with Adobe Acrobat 6.0 or more recent versions.
   Features 1-12. Growth rings, porosity, vessel arrangement, vessel grouping, vessel outline [2.2 MB PDF ]
   Features 13-39. Perforation plates, intervessel pits, vessel-ray pitting, helical thickenings in vessel elements [2.2 MB PDF ]
   Features 40-59. Tangential vessel diameter, vessels per square millimetre, vessels of two distinct diameter classes, tyloses and deposits in vessels, wood vesselless [864 kb PDF ]
   Features 60-70. Tracheids and fibres [1.8 MB PDF ]
   Features 75-95. Axial parenchyma [2.4 MB PDF ]
   Features 96-122. Rays and storied structure [2.1 MB PDF ]
   Features 124-135. Oil and mucilage cells, intercellular canals, tubes/tubules, cambial variants [1.1 MB PDF ]
   Features 136-162. Mineral inclusions [1.4 MB PDF ]

Plant Anatomy and Botany Courses with Wood Anatomy / Secondary Xylem Sections

Botany 410, Plant Anatomy, Dr. David T. Webb, University of Hawaii, a comprehensive plant anatomy course, with links to many helpful sites.

Table of Contents from James Mauseth's Plant Anatomy text that complements his Plant Anatomy course. With a series of labeled micrographs with detailed figure captions. University of Texas-Austin, USA. Dr. Mauseth's objective
   "This web site is being developed as supplemental material for people studying plant anatomy. Its objective is to provide light micrographs of the types of cells and tissues that students typically examine in a plant anatomy course. All micrographs are accompanied by figure legends to help the viewer interpret and understand the structures presented."

The Anatomy of Wood. Microscopic Structure and Grain of Wood section of Wayne's World, Palomar University, CA, USA, is but a small part of this incredibly extensive site, good for general macroscopic features, not much microscopic anatomy. Try the crossword puzzle for plant anatomists.

Section on xylem from Botany On-line. Alice Bergfeld - Rolf Bergmann - Peter v. Sengbusch, University of Hamburg. Germany.Botany On-Line is another extensive site useful for teaching. Use the index to find definitions, illustrations, short text documents, etc. For instance, if you choose W for wood-- you will find links to topics such as "Wood - angiosperm"

Nomenclature / Taxonomy

Wood Collection Catalogs, General Information, Course Materials, Nomenclature & Taxonomy

W3 TROPICOS "provides access to the Missouri Botanical Garden's VAST (VAScular Tropicos) nomenclatural database and associated authority files." "Enter a scientific name ... to obtain current information on the name, its place of publication, type, and other information about the plant."

"GRIN provides the structure and nomenclature for the accessions of the National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS) [Agricultural Research Service, USDA, USA]. Many plants (37,000 taxa, 14,000 genera) are included in GRIN taxonomy, especially economic plants." Provides access to other taxonomic databases.

Databases on nomenclature and taxonomy, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, U.K., including a database of Vascular Plant Families and Genera and the Kew Record of Taxonomic Literature.

IPNI (the International Plant Names Index) provides a searchable list of plant names. Collaboration between The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, The Harvard University Herbaria, and the Australian National Herbarium also has searchable databases of name authors and their publications.

ILDIS (International Legume Database and Information Service) World Database of Legumes, a searchable and annotated index of legume species.

Managed by the International Organization for Plant Information (IOPI), the Global Plant Checklist (GPC) is a cooperative international project designed to help humanity manage the earth's biodiversity efficiently and sustainably. With a total of 248400 source records, the GPC now covers 201,397 different plant names belonging to 135,491 "potential taxa".

Index Nominum Genericorum (ING), a collaborative project of the International Association for Plant Taxonomy (IAPT), the Smithsonian Institution, and the University of Utrecht, was initiated in 1954 as a compilation of generic names published for all organisms covered by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature. ING is now searchable online.