diffuse porous page
"DIFFUSE POROUS" GRASSES
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. On all other
pages on this anatomy sub-site the orientation is 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 but with these grasses I have no idea which way is which
general characteristics of grasses (NOTE: the palms are EXTREMELY variable, not just within a species but even within a particular piece. This is illustrated in several of the examples on this page)
Some "woods" are not wood at all, but rather are types of grass. These include all of the palms and all of the bamboos. Most of these woods, particularly the palms, are so soft that trying to fine-sand the end grain is hopeless, but I've done the best I could and for most of them it came out reasonable. The bamboos are harder and not a problem.
Since these are not woods, it really isn't appropriate to call them "diffuse porous" but the vessels that they have that are equivalent to wood pores are equivalent in distribution to diffuse porous. There are no rays or parenchyma or growth rings, just bundles of fibers.
There are a large number of bamboo and palm species, from a number of different genera, and I have only a few but I present them here just for your general information. Face grain shots can be seen on the main site. Red palm and black palm are pretty readily available to craftspeople in the USA in sizes suitable for small turnings and although bamboo is readily available, it is generally only used for floors and has to be laminated.
- bamboo / unknown species --- this is what USA people normally mean by "bamboo". It is laminated (the apparent growth ring boundaries are actually where the sections are laminated and it nicely illustrates the characteristic of bamboo that towards the empty center of a stalk, the "pores" are relatively sparse and they become more numerous as you move towards the outer edge. That is illustrated in the moso sample below these two
- black pambil (~bamboo) / Iriartea deltoidea --- native to Ecuador, this is radically different from most of the other bamboo and palm species that I have seen but it clearly is a grass, not a wood.
These two ares of the same piece of bamboo illustrate the characteristic of bamboo that towards the empty center of a stalk, the "pores" are relatively sparse and they become more numerous as you move towards the outer edge.
- moso (bamboo) / Phyllostachys edulis --- from the inner part of the stem almost back at the hollow inside
- moso (bamboo) / Phyllostachys edulis --- from the outer part of the stem almost at the outside
- coconut palm (a type of red palm) / Cocos nucifera
- coconut palm (a type of red palm) / Cocos nucifera --- one of the very soft ones where sanding the end grain is pretty much hopeless
- coconut palm (a type of red palm) / Cocos nucifera --- this is from the same sample as the middle pic and in this area you can see how the fibers have separated
- red palm / Acanthophoenix rubra --- this one was so soft that I knew trying to fine-sand the end grain would be usless so I didn't
- red palm / unknown species
- red palm / unknown species
- black palm / Astrocaryum spp.
- palmyra palm (=black palm) / Borassus flabellifer
- palmyra palm (=black palm) / Borassus flabellifer --- I note that this piece (1) does not look like the other black palm pieces (but the face grain does) because the cell walls are thin rather than thick and (2) it looks very much like the sample above of bamboo (black pambil) / Iriartea deltoidea
- black palm / Borassus flabellifer --- these two are from nearby areas on the same sample
- black palm / Borassus flabellifer --- these two are from nearby areas on the same sample
- livistona palm / Livistona robinsoniana
- African wild palm / Phoenix reclinata
- India wild date palm / Phoenix sylvestris
- India wild date palm / Phoenix sylvestris
- Canary Island palm / Phoenix canariensis
- Canary Island palm / Phoenix canariensis
- solitaire palm / Ptychosperma elegans
- cabbage palmetto / Sabal palmetto
- saw palmetto / Serenoa repens
- California fan palm / Washingtonia filifera
Fairchild's palm --- both the face grain and the end grain on these two pieces were so radically different from each other that I asked three different people, including the vendor of the samples they were taken from and two other knowledgeable people and they all assured me that the variability of the palms from near the heart to near the outside is often so extreme that it's not unusual to see this degree of dissimilarity between pieces taken from the same "log".
- Fairchild's palm / Scheelea fairchildensis
- Fairchild's palm / Scheelea fairchildensis
- Mexican fan palm / Washingtonia robusta
- Mexican fan palm / Washingtonia robusta
- Mexican fan palm / Washingtonia robusta --- this end grain was only sanded to 400 grit, unlike my usual 1200
- royal palm / Roystonea regia --- these two are from nearby areas of the same sample
- royal palm / Roystonea regia --- these two are from nearby areas of the same sample
- royal palm / Roystonea regia --- these two are from nearby areas of the same sample
- royal palm / Roystonea regia --- these two are from nearby areas of the same sample
- royal palm / Roystonea regia --- this end grain was only sanded to 400 grit, unlike my usual 1200
- silver palm / Coccothrinax readii --- these two are from nearby areas of the same sample
- silver palm / Coccothrinax readii --- these two are from nearby areas of the same sample