heartwood

Etymology

heart + wood

noun

  1. The wood nearer the heart of a stem or branch, different in color from the sapwood
    A popular myth is that heartwood is stronger than sapwood.
    The staves are split from the heartwood. The heartwood is composed of dead cells; it supports the tree, but no longer has any physiological purpose. The staves must follow the grain of the wood to achieve a watertight cask, so they are split rather than sawn. — L'encyclopédie du Cognac: From log to stave

Attribution / Disclaimer All definitions come directly from Wiktionary using the Wiktextract library. We do not edit or curate the definitions for any words, if you feel the definition listed is incorrect or offensive please suggest modifications directly to the source (wiktionary/heartwood), any changes made to the source will update on this page periodically.