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	Featured Wood What Wood Is This? Hint: For a change of pace - a conifer. Because this wood has resin canals with thin-walled epithelial cells, it is relatively easy to assign it to genus. [ more ]

The InsideWood project integrates wood anatomical information from the literature and original observations into an internet-accessible database useful for research and teaching. The InsideWood database contains brief descriptions of fossil and modern woody dicots (hardwoods) from more than 200 plant families, and is searchable by an interactive, multiple-entry key. This wood anatomy web site has over 35,000 images showing anatomical details.
Note: Gymnosperm woods (softwoods) are not included.

Become a fan of InsideWood on facebook to get information on additions to InsideWood, and occasional comments on how-to-use the website. Also on Twitter
The Facebook photo albums listed below have slide sets with background information on InsideWood, including hints and cautions about searching the IW database. They are public and you do not need to belong to Facebook to view them. Links to them are below

"About InsideWood" with information on source of the data and the images, how to export descriptions, caveats about database content.
"InsideWood Notes. 27 March 2010" with some more cautions and reminders about coding, e.g. vessel-ray parenchyma pits.
"15 April 2010. Notes" cautions on coding vessel diameter and density, perforated ray cells (a problematic feature).
"InsideWood search hints" two slides about coding for absence.
"Reminder about storied structure" two slides about storied structure.
"Brief Introduction to Microscopic Wood Anatomy"

Support InsideWood by buying a 2013 Calendar "Plants With a Past. Inside Fossil Woods." Calendar features photomicrographs of fossil woods and gives dates for Arbor Days around the world.

Support the International Association of Wood Anatomists by buying the photobook "Beauty In Wood."

The descriptions use features from the International Association of Wood Anatomists (IAWA) List of Features for Hardwood Identification (IAWA Committee 1989). We recommend that database users obtain a copy of this booklet from the IAWA. Download order form (1 MB pdf)

To use the multiple-entry key for wood identification effectively and to interpret the database content correctly, users need to be familiar with the microscopic anatomy of hardwoods at the level of university courses in plant anatomy or wood science. If you don't have this background, visit the course materials section of Wood Anatomy Links for help.

The InsideWood Working Group (IWG): This site is a project of the Libraries and the Department of Wood and Paper Science, at North Carolina State University (NCSU), Raleigh, NC, USA. The project benefits from collaboration with the Micromorphology Group, Jodrell Laboratory, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, U.K. and the National Herbarium of the Netherlands, and CSIRO Forestry and Forest Products, Australia.

Support: This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation under Grants BRC 0237368 and DBI 0518386 to NCSU, Elisabeth Wheeler, Shirley Rodgers, and Kathy Brown, Principal Investigators.

Before Using This Site Please Read the Disclaimer and Data Use Policy