Body woods:

Alder:

common name for plants of the genus Alnus, of the family Betulaceae, order Fagales. They are trees or shrubs, natives of cold and temperate climates. Because the wood resists decay underwater, it is used for bridge pilings. Dye was formerly obtained from the bark of many species. The black alder, A. glutinosa, is a native of Europe. It usually grows to about 15 m (about 50 ft). Among the varieties used for ornamental planting are the golden alder, with bright golden-yellow leaves, and the cut-leaved alder, with narrow, deeply incised leaves. The gray alder, A. incana, has acute leaves, downy underneath, and grows to a height of about 24 m (about 80 ft).

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Ash: (Northern White Ash)

common name for any member of the genus Fraxinus, of the family Oleaceae, comprising about 70 species of mostly northern temperate trees and shrubs. Ashes are valued for timber and ornament. Characteristic of the group are the small, inconspicuous greenish flowers, usually borne in clusters with or without sepals and petals. These appear in early spring and produce dry, single-winged fruits called samaras. The finely toothed leaves are opposite on the stems and are compound, bearing an odd number of leaflets. The white, or American, ash (F. americana), European ash (F. excelsior), and Siebold ash (F. sieboldiana) of Asia are particularly valuable sources of woods used in cabinetry. The flowering, or manna, ash (F. ornus), notable for its long petals, is cultivated in Mediterranean regions for its sweet gum. In North America, ashes have been subject for several years to a disease that usually kills a stricken tree in 10 years. No preventative has yet been found for the disease, which may possibly be caused by a leafhopper-borne mycoplasma.

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Mahogany: (Honduras Mahogany)

common name for the family Meliaceae, of the order Sapindales, comprising a medium-size group (about 550 species in about 50 genera) of tropical trees and shrubs important for high-quality woods. True mahoganies are members of the American genus Swietenia and the African genus Khaya. Members of the family usually have pinnately compound (branching) leaves and three to five sepals and petals. The five to ten stamens are fused along their filaments (stalks) to form a tube. Mahogany wood is heavy, strong, and easily worked and resists rot and termites. It is used in cabinetry and veneers and formerly, before all the large trees were cut, in construction. Other genera in the family besides the true mahoganies also yield useful wood, oils, insecticides, and edible fruits. The chinaberry tree, Melia azedarach, native to the Himalaya, is widely planted in the southern United States as an ornamental.

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Horse Chestnut:

common name for a family of trees, Hippocastanaceae, order Sapindales, and especially for the species Aesculus hippocastanum. The family, which contains about 15 species placed in 2 genera, occurs in the North Temperate Zone. The trees are dicots characterized by large winter buds covered with sticky scales; opposite, palmate leaves; and large clusters of attractive yellow, red, or whitish irregular flowers with four or five petals. The fruits are leathery, three-valved capsules containing large, brown seeds. The genus Aesculus contains about 13 species, which are often grown as ornamentals. A. hippocastanum is a native of Europe but has been widely planted in North America since colonial days. Most of the other members of the genus, commonly called buckeyes, are popular ornamental and shade trees; two of them—Ohio buckeye, A. glabra, and yellow buckeye, A. octandra—are valuable timber trees. Most North American buckeyes occur in the East; only one, the California buckeye, A. californica, is native to the West. The attractive seeds of buckeyes contain a poison, aesculin, that causes vomiting and paralysis. Billia, the other genus in the family, contains two species occurring from southern Mexico to tropical South America.

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Maple: (Quilted Maple, Spalted Maple, Birdseye Maple)

common name for the family Aceraceae, order Sapindales, comprising a small group of trees widespread in the temperate areas of the northern hemisphere, and for its representative genus, Acer. The family, which contains 2 genera and about 113 species, is recognized by its opposite leaves and small, radially symmetrical flowers in loose clusters. The flowers often lack petals. The ovary (female flower part) consists of two fused carpels (egg-bearing structures), which mature into two winged fruits. Maples are widely grown as ornamentals and street trees for their foliage and autumn colors. The species most commonly grown are medium to large deciduous trees with lobed "maple-shaped" leaves, such as the one depicted on the Canadian flag. Commonly planted species are red maple, A. rubrum; sugar maple, A. saccharum; black maple, A. nigrum; and Norway maple, A. platanoides. All these are natives of North America and Europe. Many of the Asian species differ radically from their Western relatives. Some are small trees or bushes, some are evergreen, and some have entire (unlobed) leaves. The box elder, A. negundo, a maple native to much of the United States, has compound leaves with three to five leaflets. In addition to their ornamental importance, maples are a source of good timber—especially sycamore maple, A. pseudoplatanus—and sugar or syrup, especially sugar maple. The other genus of the family is Dipteronia, with two species that are found in China.

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Walnut: (Crotch Walnut)

common name for the family Juglandaceae, a small group of flowering plants important for the nuts and timber they produce, and for its representative genus, Juglans. This family contains about 59 species, all of them trees, distributed primarily in north temperate areas but with important extensions into tropical American and tropical Asian regions. The most important nut crop in the world is the walnut—the nut of the English, or Persian, walnut, J. regia, which is native to areas stretching from Italy to China but now widely grown in many other temperate areas. In the United States, California is the most important area for the production of English walnuts. Black walnut, J. nigra, is native to the eastern U.S. It is important for its wood, used in fine furniture, rather than for its nuts, the meats of which are tasty but are surrounded by a hard, thick shell that makes them difficult to harvest. Trees of the walnut family, some reaching great heights and girths, once were important components of the deciduous forests of eastern North America, but most have now been cut for their valuable timber. In addition to the walnut itself, other important members are the butternut, also in the genus Juglans, and the pecan and hickory, both members of the genus Carya.

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Ebony: (Macasar Ebony)

common name for a family, Ebenaceae, of flowering plants and for trees of its representative genus, Diospyros. Because of its wood and fruits, the ebony family, with close to 500 species, is probably the best-known and most important member of the order Ebenales. Several tropical species in the genus Diospyros are exploited for their hard, dense wood. Ebony wood varies in color from species to species but has the common characteristics of being derived from the heartwood of the trees and of being capable of taking a beautiful polish. Other Temperate Zone species of the same genus produce persimmons. These include D. virginiana, native to the United States, and D. kaki, originally from China but now widely grown elsewhere.

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Rosewood: (Brazilian Rosewood)

commercial name for the wood of several tropical trees. Rosewood is characteristically reddish purple, often streaked with black, and is used in cabinetwork in making ornamental furniture, musical instruments, and handles. Most commercial rosewood is derived from trees of the genera Dalbergia and Pterocarpus, of the family Fabaceae (see Legume), and Jacaranda, of the family Bignoniaceae (see Bignonia). Brazilian rosewood is derived from D. nigra and from jacaranda wood. East Indian rosewood, or blackwood, is obtained from D. latifolia. African rosewood, P. erinaceum, and Amboina wood, P. indicum, are important sources of rosewood in the Old World but less important in the United States.

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Redwood :

The coast redwood, Sequoia sempervirens, grows along the humid Pacific coast from southern Oregon to central California. Its height ranges from 30 to 117 m (100 to 385 ft), a size approached only by the eucalyptus of Australia, one specimen of which measures 99.4 m (326 ft). The diameter of the trunk measures up to 7.5 m (25 ft). The life span of the coast redwood is believed to be 2500 years. The leaves are bluer in tone than the giant sequoia and are more needlelike. The wood is similar but even-grained. Unlike most other conifers (cone-bearing trees), the stump produces sprouts after cutting; these grow in 40 years to a size suitable for lumbering. For this reason, and because the tree is more plentiful and its wood harder than the giant sequoia, it has been cut extensively. Some old-growth, irreplaceable specimens are preserved in state and national parks, but survival of the redwood groves elsewhere is in question. The dawn redwood, Metasequoia glyptostroboides, was at one time the most common sequoia tree in North America and is thought to be ancestral to the California redwood. It attains a height just under 30 m (100 ft) and averages 1.8 m (6 ft) in diameter. Its leaves are flat and grow in slender, opposite branches. Unlike the evergreen sequoias, the dawn redwood is a deciduous tree. Fossil specimens were identified in 1941; a few years later, living trees were found in China. Seeds and seedlings collected in 1948 by the Arnold Arboretum in Massachusetts have been successfully propagated in North America.

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