diffuse porous page


DIFFUSE POROUS LIVE OAKS

NOTE: unless otherwise specifically stated, all of the images shown on this
page are of 1/4" square end grain cross sections shown at 12X with the top
of the image towards the bark and the bottom towards the pith so that
earlywood is towards the bottom of the growth rings and latewood is towards the top

to see all species with links to their anatomy page go here: species links

general characteristics of live oaks end grain
NOTES:
(1) live oaks are from both the red and white oak groups. These are oaks that do not shed their leaves in the winter. Live, in this case, means evergreen (the normal characteristics of conifers / softwoods, but not of hardwoods)
(2) "normal" / deciduous oaks, red and white shed their leaves in the winter are ring porous and have their own page in the ring porous group on this site.
(3) It is sometimes mistakenly believed that "live oak" refers only to Quercus virginiana but that is seriously mistaken. Quercus virginiana is just the most commonly known species that is a live oak, not at all the only one, as you can see on this page.



   

     

     

   

   

     

   

     

   
 

   

   
live oak samples that were mistakenly presented to me as "Turkey oak / Quercus laevis" but that species is emphatically ring porous so these are some other live oak. They are probably in the red oak group because some areas on each have very short rays.

     

     
   
NOTE on Quercus phillyraeoides: some pieces appear semi ring porous or even ring porous because the growth boundaries are easy to see but that does not make them other than diffuse porous. Notice that the pores in the earlywood are the same size as the pores in the latewood even though the surrounding tissue may be thicker in the latewood. Also, the rays can be hard to see with the naked eye because they are almost exactly the same color as the surrounding tissue.