Home / Teaching Documents, Lecture Notes and Tutorials / Teaching Documents about Wood Anatomy and Tree-Ring Research

! Harry Alden, Maryland Archaeological Conservation Lab: Wood & Charcoal Identification in Southern Maryland. Introductions to wood anatomy. Excellent! Please note especially the keys and description of soft- and hardwoods, including an array of microphotographs.

L.S.R. Alves et al. (2005): Paleobotany and Paleoclimatology Part I: Growth Rings in Fossil Woods and Paleoclimates. PDF file; See also starting with PDF-page 16:
Part II: Leaf Assemblages (Taphonomy, Paleoclimatology and Paleogeography). In: pp 179–202, Koutsoukos, Eduardo A.M. (ed.) Applied Stratigraphy. Series: Topics in Geobiology, Vol. 23.
See also here (Google books).

Volker Arnold, Museum of Prehistory in Dithmarschen at Heide, Germany: Which tree produced the Baltic amber resin? Cross, radial, and tangential surfaces in wood block. See also: Wood remains in Baltic and Bitterfeld amber.

Eleni Asouti, School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, University of Liverpool: Charcoal Analysis Web. Go to:
Cecilia A. Western Wood Reference Collection Archive: The Wood Anatomy Notebooks. Descriptions (typewriter, in PDF) and images (jpg). Mainly species from Southwest Asia and Southeast Europe, donated to the Institute of Archaeology by Cecilia A. Western.

! Alice Bergfeld (the English editor), Rolf Bergmann, University of Hamburg, and Peter v. Sengbusch, University of Bielefeld and Institut für Allgemeine Botanik, University of Hamburg: BOTANY Online - The Internet Hypertextbook. Botany online is based on the textbook "Botanik" by Peter von Sengbusch (Mc Graw Hill Book Company, 1989). Still available via Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley: Plant Tissues, Wood, Growth Rings, Bark. Begin Photosynthesis. Lecture notes. Snapshot taken by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

Alan Bernau Jr., Alans Factory Outlet, Luray, Virginia: Wood Rings and The Age of Trees. A link directory to kid friendly articles on tree identification and the age of trees.

Botany On-line, Hamburg: The Xylem. Snapshot taken by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

! Center for Wood Anatomy Research, Forest Products Laboratory (FPL), Madison, Wisconsin (U.S. Department of Agriculture, USDA). Information about wood identification techniques, and several hundred technical sheets which give details of the properties of North American hardwoods and softwoods, tropical woods and lesser-known woods.
You may navigate from here: Wood Properties.
Now recovered from the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

! Michael Clayton, Department of Botany, University of Wisconsin, Madison: Instructional Technology (BotIT). Some image collections. Excellent! Go to:
Root
Wood, and Secondary Growth

Michael W. Davidson, The Molecular Expressions: The Tree Collection. Photomicrographs of thin sections produced from the wood of more than 30 different trees. Images are accompanied by text describing characteristics and habitat of the individual trees.

Owen Kent Davis, Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona Tucson: QUATERNARY PALYNOLOGY AND PLANT MACROFOSSILS. Lecture notes. Go to: Macrofossil Drawings, WOOD CROSS SECTION. Line drawings.
These expired links are now available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

Juergen Decker, Holztechnik - Holzbau, Bonn: Holzlexikon (in German).

A.L. Decombeix et al. (2022): Tyloses in fossil plants: New data from a Mississippian tree, with a review of previous records. In Pdf, Botany Letters, 169: 1-17.
See also here and there.
Note figure 1: Schematic representation of tylosis formation seen in transverse and longitudinal sections.
Figure 4: Tyloses in extant and extinct vascular plants.

! A.L. Decombeix et al. (2019): Plant hydraulic architecture through time: lessons and questions on the evolution of vascular systems. In PDF, IAWA Journal, 40: 387-420. See also here and there.

! S. Dierickx et al. (2024): Non-destructive wood identification using X-ray µCT scanning: which resolution do we need? Open access, Plant Methods, 20. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13007-024-01216-0. Note likewise here (in PDF).
"... There is, however, no standardized approach that determines the required resolution for proper wood identification using X-ray µCT. Here we compared X-ray µCT scans of 17 African wood species at four resolutions
[...] The results show the potential of X-ray µCT for non-destructive wood identification.
[...] The dataset of 17 scanned species is made available online and serves as the first step towards a reference database of scanned wood species ..."

Institut für Botanik, Technische Universität Dresden: Pinus sylvestris, Pinaceae, Gymnospermae (in German). Bordered pits and cross-field pits.
Website outdated. The link is to a version archived by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

T.L. Dutra and A. Crisafulli (2022): Petrified woods in the mesozoic of southern Brazil. In PDF, Brazilian Paleofloras: From Paleozoic to Holocene.
See also here.
"... This chapter summarizes the main components of xylotaphofloras that have been studied since the twentieth century ..."

! Olafur Eggertsson, LABORATORY FOR WOOD ANATOMY AND DENDROCHRONOLOGY, Department of Quaternary Geology, Lund University: What is Dendrochronology?

EMuseum, Minnesota State University, Mankato: Dating Techniques. Go to: Absolute Dating Techniques, Dendrochronology.
Snapshots provided by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

! European Commission: European Atlas of Forest Tree Species. Scientists and forestry professionals have contributed in the many stages of the production of this atlas, through the collection of ground data on the location of tree species, elaboration of the distribution and suitability maps, production of the photographic material and compilation of the different chapters. Excellent!
! Don´t miss the Atlas Download Page. Plenty of downloadable PDFs, e.g. about Past forests of Europe, an ecological overview, about forest classifications and European forest tree species.

Exploring Earth (McDougal Littell). The investigations and visualizations on this site were designed to accompany Earth Science, a high school textbook. The Web site was developed by TERC, a non-profit educational research and development firm in collaboration with McDougal Littell. Funding was provided by the National Science Foundation. Go to: Find out more about dendrochronology.

H.J. Falcon-Lang (2005): Global climate analysis of growth rings in woods, and its implications for deep-time paleoclimate studies. In PDF, Paleobiology, 31: 434–444.
See also here.
"... Data reprocessed from the International Tree-Ring Data Bank are used to analyze three parameters, mean ring width, mean sensitivity, and percentage latewood, from 727 sites across a global climatic range.
[...] Only in well-constrained studies where paleoclimatic, ontogenetic, and taxonomic sources of variability can be controlled, and data sets are very large, may fossil growth ring analysis provide useful paleoecological data. ..."

Linda Finnegan, helium.com: An overview of dendrochronology.
Now recovered from the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

! A. Gessler et al. (2014): Stable isotopes in tree rings: towards a mechanistic understanding of isotope fractionation and mixing processes from the leaves to the wood. Free access, Tree Physiology, 34: 796–818.
Note figure 1: Overview of the different processes influencing the carbon (a) and oxygen (b) isotope signature, from primary sources (CO₂ and H₂O, respectively) to tree-ring cellulose, going through different organic and inorganic pools.

! M. Gregory et al.(2009): Fossil dicot wood names – an annotated list with full bibliography. IAWA Journal, Supplement 6. 220 pp. See also here.
This publication represents a comprehensive list available for generic and specific names of fossil dicot woods, giving synonyms, geological ages and geographical sources. Excellent!

! Henri D. Grissino-Mayer, Laboratory of Tree-Ring Science, University of Tennessee, Knoxville: Lectures in Dendrochronology.
Snapshot provided by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

! H.D. Grissino-Mayer, Laboratory of Tree-Ring Science, University of Tennessee, Knoxville: Lectures in Dendrochronology. Go to: History of Dendrochronology. PowerPoint presentation.
These expired links are now available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

! Henri D. Grissino-Mayer, Department of Physics, Astronomy & Geosciences, Valdosta State University, THE TREE-RING WEB PAGES: PRINCIPLES OF DENDROCHRONOLOGY. Basic definitions and major principles used in tree-ring research. See also: PHOTO GALLERY OF TREES AND TREE RINGS (Questions and answers).

! Daniel Hauptvogel, Virginia Sisson et al. (2023), Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Houston:
The Story of Earth: An Observational Guide 2e . Second edition (Pressbooks), Open access. You can download a printable PDF version.
Navigate from the content menue page. Note especially:
! Chapter 11: Paleoclimate.

Andreas G. Heiss, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna; also: Archaeobotany, Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science (VIAS): Anatomy of European and North American woods - an interactive identification key. A freeware DELTA-based interactive identification key for soft- and hardwoods. Macroscopic and microscopic features. The key is currently available in English and German (ZIP files).

The InsideWood Working Group (wood anatomists and North Carolina State University Libraries professionals):
! The InsideWood Database. This project integrates wood anatomical information from the literature and original observations into an internet-accessible database useful for research and teaching. Currently 8,735 descriptions and 45,225 images, including 1,807 fossil wood descriptions and 2,910 fossil wood images. Superbly done and very helpful! Also worth checking out:
! Wood Anatomy Links, Wood Collection Catalogs.

Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin:
! Paleoclimate through Proxy Data Lake Core, Pollen and Tree Rings. Powerpoint presentation, by Peter Wiegand et al. (2011), San Joaquin Valley Rocks project.

Paul James, Microscopy UK: Tree Rings. A cursory look at these well known features.

T.H. Jefferson (1987): The preservation of conifer wood: examples from the Lower Cretaceous of Antarctica. In PDF, Palaeontology, 30. See also here.
! With instructive line drawings.

Michael Knee, Department of Horticulture and Crop Science, Ohio State University, Columbus: General Plant Biology Online Resources. Lecture notes. Go to: Woody plants.
Available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

Jona Lendering, Livius.org: Dendrochronology.

Frederic Lens and Steven Jansen, Laboratory of Plant Systematics, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven: Links to web sites related to wood anatomy, including wood collections, general information, course materials, and plant taxonomy.

! Lori Martinez, Rex Adams and Henri D. Grissino-Mayer:
Guide to Dendrochronology for Educators. A tutorial and non-technical review of tree-ring dating.
Still available via Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

W.J. Matthaeus et al. (2022): Stems matter: Xylem physiological limits are an accessible and critical improvement to models of plant gas exchange in deep time. In PDF, Front. Ecol. Evol., 10:955066. doi: 10.3389/fevo.2022.955066.
See also here.
Note figure 1: Vascular plant hydraulic pathway conducting element features.

P. Matysová (2016): Study of fossil wood by modern analytical methods: case studies. Doctoral Thesis, Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Science, Institute of Geology and Palaeontology. Please take notice:
Fig. 6 (PDF page 39): Artistic reconstruction of wood deposition and silicification in river sediments.
Fig. 7 (PDF page 39): Artistic reconstruction of plant burial by volcanic fall-out.

Mark McCaffrey, NOAA: Paleoclimatology Slide Sets. A comprehensive online set of attractive slides, providing background on a variety of paleoclimatology subjects, including Ice Ages, Tree Rings, Ice Cores, Coral Reefs and much more. Go to: Tree Rings.
Websites outdated, download versions archived by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

Leonard Miller, The Bristlecone site: Dendrochronology. Dating through tree-ring growth.

Nicon Microscopy: Confocal Microscopy Image Gallery, Bordered Pits, and Digital Eclipse Image Gallery, Bordered Pits. Provided by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

Sandra Niemirowska, Poland: Petrified wood. Don´t miss the tutorial:
! "Palaeobotanical Laboratory".

! National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Washington, DC. NOAA Paleoclimatology. NOAA Paleoclimatology operate the World Data Center for Paleoclimatology which distributes data contributed by scientists around the world. Paleo data come from natural sources such as tree rings, ice cores, corals, and ocean and lake sediments, and extend the archive of climate back hundreds to millions of years. Go to:
Tree Ring. The Data Bank includes raw ring width or wood density measurements, and site chronologies (growth indices for a site).

NOAA Paleoclimatology Program, National Geophysical Data Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Boulder, Colorado. Paleoclimatology Slide Sets. Go to: Tree Rings: Ancient Chronicles of Environmental Change.

! M. Philippe (2023): Palaeoclimate and fossil woods—is the use of mean sensitivity sensible? Free access, Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 68: 561–569.
"... The growth rings of fossil wood provide valuable data on tree ecology. As many of the parameters controlling width are climatic, it is tempting to use these rings as an indicator of climate.
[...] Within fossil wood assemblages, average sensitivity varies widely, but rarely consistently ..."

Marc Philippe and Marion K. Bamford (2008): A key to morphogenera used for Mesozoic conifer-like woods. PDF file, Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 148: 184-207.

Quizlet.com study tools:
! Search for Wood Anatomy.
! Search for Tree Rings.

! L. Ragnia and T. Greb (2018): Secondary growth as a determinant of plant shape and form. Open access, Seminars in Cell & Developmental Biology, 79: 58-67.

! Schoch, W., Heller, I., Schweingruber, F.H., Kienast, F., 2004 (Eidgenössische Forschungsanstalt WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland: Wood anatomy of central European species. This web-based identification key is a completely revised version with more and new micro photographs and new anatomic items of the book by Schweingruber et al., 1990: Microscopic Wood Anatomy; Structural variability of stems and twigs in recent and subfossil woods from Central Europe. 3rd edition 1990.
Identify your species with online high resolution cross- and length sections from trunks and twigs. Excellent!

! F.H. Schweingruber and A. Börner (2018):
The Plant Stem
A Microscopic Aspect. Springer Nature Switzerland AG. Open access! Excellent!

Fritz Schweingruber and W. Landolt, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (an Institute of the ETH Board):
! Xylem Database. The Xylem database provides an anatomical description and classification of the xylem and phloem of herbs, shrubs and trees.

! Fritz Schweingruber and W. Landolt, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (an Institute of the ETH Board): Dendrochronological Picture Database. 1400 slides cover most topics relevant to dendrochronology. Shown are general and species specific macroscopic and microscopic reactions to climate, extreme events and decomposition from all over the world.

Paul R. Sheppard, Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, The University of Arizona, Tucson: Crossdating Tree Rings Using Skeleton Plotting. Information about dendrochronological crossdating using skeleton plots.

Thomas Siccama and Daniel Vogt, Yale School for Forestry and Environmental Studies: Methods of Ecosystem Analysis, Saltonstall Ridge, East Haven, Ct., Tree Rings Introduction. Go to: Challenges to Accurate Tree Ring Measurement. About false rings.
These expired links are available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

Nancy E. Spaulding & Samuel N. Namowitz (McDougal Littell): Exploring Earth. The investigations and visualizations on this site were designed to accompany Earth Science, a high school textbook. The Web site was developed by TERC, a non-profit educational research and development firm in collaboration with McDougal Littell. Funding was provided by the National Science Foundation. Go to: How do Trees Record Time?

James H. Speer (2010): Fundamentals of Tree Ring Research. Book announcemen. Click "Read Excerpt":
! (Chapter "Introduction").

! R. Spicer and A. Groover (2010): Evolution of development of vascular cambia and secondary growth. Open access, New Phytologist, 186: 577-592.
Note figure 1: Orientation of cells and tissues within a woody stem.
Figure 2: A phylogeny of vascular plants illustrating multiple origins of secondary growth via a vascular cambium.

Hans Steur, Ellecom, The Netherlands: Hans´ Paleobotany Pages. Fossil plant images from the oldest land plants. Go to: Fossil gymnosperm wood.

Ed Strauss: Petrified Wood From Western Washington. How to identify petrified wood and reference resources for information on petrified wood. Read about the the monetary value of petrified wood. Snapshot taken by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine. Go to: Table of Genera. Microscopic images of Acer momijiyamense, Alnus latissima, Carpinus absarokensis, Cercidiphyllum, Cornoxylon, Diospyroxylon, Fagoxylon, Quercinium lamarense, Licquidambaroxylon weylandi, Carya tertiara, Pterocarya rhoifilia, Laurinoxylon, Robinioxylon, Magnolia, Lirodendroxylon.

Ed Strauss, Washington (article hosted by Evolving Earth Foundation Issaquah, WA). The Evolving Earth Foundation is committed to encouraging research and building community related to the earth sciences.
How to Identify Conifers. Conifer micro photographs.
Websites still available via Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

! Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona, Tucson: About Tree Rings. Tree-Ring Basics.

Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, WI, U.S. Department of Agriculture: Wood handbook: wood as an engineering material. About the characteristics and availability of commercially important woods, the structure, physical properties and moisture relations of wood, the mechanical properties of wood, etc.
Available in PDF.

Wayne's Word An Online Textbook Of Natural History (Wayne P. Armstrong, alias Mr. Wolffia, Palomar College):
The Anatomy Of Wood. Easy to understand website, general macroscopic and microscopic features.
Stem & Root Anatomy. Cellular structure of vascular plants.
Tree-Ring Dating.

! Elisabeth A. Wheeler, Department of Wood and Paper Science, North Carolina State University: Wood Anatomy and Properties, Lecture Syllabus: Fall 2000. PDF files.

! E.A. Wheeler and P. Baas (2022): Wood anatomy of modern and fossil Fagales in relation to phylogenetic hypotheses, familial classification, and patterns of character evolution. Free access, International Journal of Plant Sciences, 183.

! E.A. Wheeler and P. Baas (1991): A Survey of the Fossil Record for Dicotiledonous Wood and its Significance for Evolutionary and Ecological Wood Anatomy. Open access, IAWA Bulletin n.s., 12: 275-332. Note figure 1: Major ecophyletic trends ofvessel element specialisation.

! E.A. Wheeler, P. Baas and P.E. Gasson (eds., 1989; 4th printing 2007):
IAWA list of microscopic features for hardwood identification
with an Appendix on non-anatomical information. In PDF, IAWA Bulletin n.s., 10: 219–332. 4th printing 2007, published for the International Association of Wood Anatomists at the National Herbarium of the Netherlands, Leiden.

! Elisabeth A. Wheeler, Department of Wood and Paper Science, North Carolina State University: Wood Anatomy and Properties. The first part of the course discusses the macroscopic features common to all native woods, tree growth, and wood formation. Next is a study of softwood and hardwood anatomy that emphasizes the relationship between structure, function, and material characteristics. Discussion of cell wall properties precedes an introduction to some of wood´s physical and mechanical properties.

! A.C. Wiedenhoeft and R.B. Miller (2005): Structure and function of wood. In PDF, Handbook of wood chemistry and wood composites, Boca Raton, Fla. (CRC Press), pages 9-33.
An extended description of the microscopic structure of soft- and hardwoods, e.g. tracheids, rays, vessels, pits, growth rings, etc.
See also here (Google books), and there.

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Dendrochronology,
List of woods,
Trees.

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Category:Plant anatomy.
Category:Wood.
Dendrochronology.
Tylosis.
Verthyllung (in German).

! D.W. Woodcock (2022): A Typology of Vessel Patterning in Trees with Examples from the Fossil Record. Free access, International Journal of Plant Sciences, 183: 235-250.
"... Variation in vessel patterning shows clear relationships to climate and environment that can be used in interpreting paleoenvironments. ..."
! Note figure 8: Typology of vessel patterning in trees, showing the variation in vessel patterning and geographical and ecological correlates.

! Laurence D. Zuckerman, Omar Alvarado, and Michael W. Davidson, The Florida State University (website hosted by Molecular Expressions, National High Magnetic Field Laboratory): The Tree Collection. Provided by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine. Cross, radial, and tangential sections of about 50 common US woods, including the Glossary of Terms.

Labor für Dendrochronologie, Zürich, Switzerland: Dendro Prinzip. In German.

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