Sapwood

sapwood

[′sap‚wu̇d]

(botany)

The younger, softer, outer layers of a woody stem, between the cambium and heartwood. Also known as alburnum.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Sapwood

The outer layers of the wood of a tree, in which food materials are conveyed and stored during the life of a tree; they are usually of lighter color than the heartwood.

Illustrated Dictionary of Architecture Copyright © 2012, 2002, 1998 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

sapwood, alburnum

sapwood

The wood of a tree between the bark and heartwood; normally lighter in color than the heartwood; equal in strength to heartwood but usually not as decay-resistant.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Sapwood

 

alburnum, the outer, young, physiologically active layers of wood adjoining the generative tissue, or cambium. Sapwood is distinguished from the interior part (heartwood) by its lighter color and lesser mechanical solidity; it contains more water and is less resistant to destruction by fungi and insects than heartwood and mature wood.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.