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First Steps in Identifying Wood

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First Steps in Identifying Wood COOPERATIVE EXTENSION SERVICE UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE, FOOD AND ENVIRONMENT, LEXINGTON, KY, 40546 FOR-124 PART IDENTIFYING WOOD—A Primer for Everyone 2 First Steps in Identifying Wood Terry Conners, Forestry tion missing, a specimen of wood cannot always be identified as coming from a single species; it might only be identifi- able as belonging to a group of species that have identical wood characteristics. For example, within the oaks there are white oak and red oak species groups, but within those groups samples cannot be differentiated by species. A specimen of scarlet oak can only be identified as being a member of the red oak species group; there is nothing about its wood struc- ture that makes it uniquely scarlet oak.1 Other common North American species groups that combine indistinguishable species include hard maple, soft maple, and southern pine. Sawmills and vendors who sell lumber to the North American wood construc- tion markets have also created several species groups bases on similar strength properties. The lumber from these spe- cies is bundled together and stamped with a short label for identification; examples of these groups include SPF (spruce-pine-fir) and HEM-FIR (hemlock- true fir). ood samples need to be identified Species Identification: Binomial Nomenclature for all sorts of reasons, and they Possibilities and Limits comeW in all shapes, sizes and conditions. In much of the world people use I’ve received samples that were sound, Trees are usually fairly easy to identify, both a first and a last name to identify samples that were waterlogged, samples especially if they’re in leaf. The shape and themselves, and scientists have named that were rotted or otherwise degraded, arrangement of the leaves, the appear- the different tree species using the same painted samples, furniture samples, ance of the bark, the presence of fruits, two-name convention (which they call binomial nomenclature even samples containing wood preser- nuts or berries, where the tree grows—all ). It works like this: genus vatives. Most of the samples I receive of these things provide a forester with every type of tree is given both a species have a North American origin, but I also information about the kind of tree he and a name. Scarlet oak is thus receive pieces from art museums and or she is looking at. Wood samples don’t called Quercus coccinea, where Quercus antique dealers that can originate from usually arrive on my doorstep with such is the genus name (capitalized by conven- just about anywhere. This sometimes complete information, however, and tion and either italicized or underlined) means that identifying the sample by a that makes the process of wood species and coccinea is the species name (not common name alone doesn’t provide identification more difficult. Without the leaves, the bark and so forth, the only enough information. 1 Besides scarlet oak, the red oak group features remaining are the wood cells includes the black oak, northern red oak, and features such as density, color and southern red oak, pin oak, water oak, odor. With so much botanical informa- willow oak and others. Agriculture and Natural Resources • Family and Consumer Sciences • 4-H Youth Development • Community and Economic Development EXTENSION capitalized but italicized or underlined Forming an Initial Impression wood compared to the wood that lies in the same manner as the genus). All the just beneath the bark. The darker-colored The first thing I do when I receive a oaks are members of the Quercus genus, wood is called heartwood, while the sample is to note its origin and overall for example, but different oaks would lighter wood surrounding it is called appearance, as these can be important have different species names.2 sapwood (see Figure 2-1 for an example). clues. Every wood sample has some Knowing the scientific name is very There is an incredible range of heart- characteristics (such as color, density, helpful, because referring to common wood color exhibited by woods world- hardness, and odor) that are readily ob- names can create confusion. In different wide, though many of them are variations servable or visible to the naked eye. Taken parts of the United States, for example, on different shades of brown (cream, tan, in combination, these characteristics the common name “poplar” refers either light brown, red brown, dark brown, might suggest an initial species identifica- to a true poplar (a tree of the Populus etc.). There are, however, a few species tion. This initial impression can’t be relied genus growing in the northern part of the with colors that are less common (such upon—it’s more like an “educated guess” country) or to yellow-poplar (a different as green or yellow), and for those species at this point—but it’s a place to start. genus altogether, Liriodendron tulipifera, color can assist in identification by nar- Educated guesses need to be confirmed which is also known by the common rowing down the initial range of possibili- by examining the sample further. This is names of tuliptree and tulip-poplar). As ties (Figure 2-2). true for everyone, regardless of their level another example, what I called “swamp Not every species has distinctly- of expertise. maple” growing up in New England is colored heartwood; in some species also commonly known as “red maple,” Color and Odor the heartwood and sapwood colors are but both names refer to Acer rubrum. similar. The proportions of sapwood and Clusters of related genera (the plu- Color and odor can help to suggest heartwood also vary according to spe- ral form of the word genus) are called the correct identification of a sample, cies, and some trees need to get very large families. In order of increasing specific- but neither has to be distinctive to make before the heartwood becomes visible. ity, trees could be named by their family, a species identification; sometimes the Persimmon is an example of a species then their genus, then finally by their absence of color or odor is what’s impor- in this category; it’s in the same genus as species. All of the oaks, for example, are tant in separating species. To complicate ebony (Diospyros), but it only begins to in the Fagaceae family (ex., Fagaceae things slightly, the wood color isn’t always form heartwood (which is black) when Quercus coccinea), but there are also uniform throughout the tree. The center the tree is large. other genus groups contained with the of the tree often has a darker colored Fagaceae as well. One example of this is American beech, and in this case the genus name is similar to the family name (i.e., Fagaceae Fagus grandifolia, where Fagaceae is the family name, Fagus is the genus name, and grandifolia is the spe- cies name.) Like the genus names, family sapwood names are capitalized by convention. Family names usually end in –aceae, and sometimes the names look intimidat- heartwood ing or hard to remember simply because they have an unusual-looking ending. The ending letters are pronounced in three syllables; a is pronounced as in “day”, ce is pronounced as in “seh,” and ae is pronounced as a long E sound. For example, Fagaceae would be pronounced fa-GAY-seh-ee. The family name for black walnut, Juglandaceae, would be pronounced joo-glan-DAY-seh-ee (and so forth).3 2 Quercus is pronounced KWARE-cuss. 3 See “The Biologists Handbook of Pronun- Figure 2-1. These are eastern redcedar logs (Juniperus virginiana). The darker, reddish- ciations” by Edmund C. Jaeger, published brown wood surrounding the center of the log (the pith) is the heartwood, and the light- by Charles C. Thomas, 1960, 336 pages. colored wood just beneath the bark is the sapwood. 2 A D B E C F Figure 2-2. Examples of color variation in a few North American species: A: American sycamore, B: yellow-poplar, C: eastern redcedar (with sapwood), D: hard maple, E: black walnut, and F: black cherry.4 4 The genus and species names are as follows: American sycamore (Platanus occidentalis); yellow-poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera); eastern redcedar (Juniperus virginiana); hard maple (for example, Acer saccharum—there are other species in the hard maple group as well); black walnut (Juglans nigra); and black cherry (Prunus serotina). Some species have color patterns that “cedar” odor than the lighter-colored help make them identifiable. This is par- sapwood. ticularly true of tropical species. See the Having a distinctly colored heart- photograph of zebrawood (Microberlinia wood does not automatically indicate spp.) in Figure 2-3, so known because of that a species will have a noticeable odor its distinctive striped appearance. (and vice versa). In many species with a distinct heartwood color, neither the Effect of heartwood, sapwood, sapwood nor the heartwood will have machining, dryness, and a detectable scent (redwood is one ex- storage conditions on odor ample). Other species may have distinct In many species, the heartwood is heartwood odors even though their more strongly scented than the sapwood; heartwood is light- or neutral-colored the chemicals that cause noticeable (Alaska yellow-cedar and incense-cedar odors in the colored heartwood are more for example). Alaska yellow-cedar heart- concentrated in that part of the tree. The wood is a very pale creamy yellow and the reddish-brown heartwood in eastern red- wood smells like raw potatoes; incense- cedar, for example, has a much stronger cedar heartwood is an undistinguished light reddish-brown color, but the wood Figure 2-3. Zebrawood (Microberlinia spp.) is so named because of its distinctive dark- and-light striped pattern.
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