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Cedar is known for its attractive red color and sweet smell. The heartwood ranges in color from medium reddish-brown to a deep orange-red. Growth rings are clearly visible with strong contrast between early wood zones and denser, late wood zones. The grain is usually straight, although sometimes marred by knots, and has a coarse texture. Cedar is most well known for its scent and its ability to repel or kill most insects that might damage clothing and linens.
Formal Name: Eastern Red Cedar
Other Names:
American red gum, sap gum, starleaf gum, sweetgum, sapgum, satin walnut or bilsted
Ash is a ring-porous wood with prominent growth ring patterns. The sapwood is light in color and can vary from a creamy color to nearly white. Depending on the species, the heartwood can vary in color from pale yellow to light brown with greyish tones, sometimes tinged with red. A very straight-grained wood, Ash can appear similar to Red Oak, with a coarse, even texture.
Formal Name: Fraxinus Americana
Other Names:
American red gum, sap gum, starleaf gum, sweetgum, sapgum, satin walnut or bilsted
The sapwood of Basswood is very pale and may appear white or cream-colored, or a pale, pinkish-tan. The heartwood is also very pale with occasional brown or reddish streaks. The very light tones of both sapwood and heartwood make it difficult to differentiate between the two. The wood is relatively soft for a hardwood, and has a fine, even texture. The grain is straight, and essentially, indistinct.
Formal Name: Tilia Americana
Other Names:
American red gum, sap gum, starleaf gum, sweetgum, sapgum, satin walnut or bilsted
Depending on the species, Birch sapwood appears light, with a cream-like or white color. The heartwood may be light reddish-brown or dark brown tinged with red. The close, straight grain is finely textured and uniform in appearance, with the grain more prominent in Yellow Birch than Paper Birch. On occasion, some Birch species will present a curly grain.
Formal Name: Betula Alleghaniensis, Betula Lentu
Other Names:
Yellow Birch, Sweet Birch
Cherry heartwood offers a beautiful, light reddish-brown color that darkens with age and exposure to sunlight. Some heartwoods take on reddish tones similar to Mahogany and deepen over time to a dark reddish-brown with golden overtones. The sapwood can be very light, ranging in shades from white to pale yellow. The straight, tight, satiny grain of Cherry can be marred by flecks or small gum pockets.
Formal Name: Prunus Serotina
Other Names:
Yellow Birch, Sweet Birch
Cypress sapwood varies in color from degrees of pale yellow to light brown, gradually darkening into the heartwood, which can range from reddish brown to nearly black. Heartwood from trees in southern swamplands is darker in color than cypress grown further north in drier climates. The wood is coarse with a straight grain and a naturally oily or greasy feel. The oils in the heartwood, called cypressene, make it one of the most durable woods, with strong resistance to decay when exposed to moisture.
Formal Name: Taxodium distichium
Other Names:
Cypress is found throughout North and Central America, including Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala in wet, swampy areas. In the U.S. it grows along the East Coast from New Jersey south to Florida and throughout the mid-south in areas such as Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas.
The creamy white sapwood of the Hard Maple is often tinged with pink or pale reddish-brown tones. The heartwood is more red in color, varying from light to dark reddish-brown. The growth rings produce a very fine brown line throughout the wood. The grain of Hard Maple is tight with a fine texture, and usually straight, although several variations of curly or burled grain, which are most desirable, can be found in some Hard Maples. The burled wood resembles small circular or elliptical figures, that also are called birds-eye, and when more irregular in nature are called fiddleback.
Formal Name: Acer Saccharum
Hickory and Pecan are virtually indistinguishable species within the Walnut family of trees. The appearance of Hickory/Pecan sapwood is white, and quite often tinged with brown. The heartwood ranges in color from pale brown, to brown with red tinges. The heartwood occasionally takes on deeper reddish-brown tones, and is referred to as “red” Hickory. Both the sapwood and heartwood are course in texture, usually with a fine, straight grain.
Formal Name: Carya Spp
Poplar sapwood ranges in color from creamy white, to greyish-white, to white with a yellowish cast, and is sometimes striped. The heartwood, which is usually tan, also presents a wide variety of tones, sometimes with a slightly greenish cast, and occasionally with dark purplish streaks. Poplar offers a uniform, fine texture and is light to medium in weight with a straight grain.
Formal Name: Liriodendron Tulipifera
Other Names:
Yellow Poplar, Tulip Wood
Red Oak sapwood ranges from white to light brown in color. Most varieties of Red Oak heartwood will have golden, reddish tones, although some display deeper, reddish-brown tones. The wood has a course texture with a straight grain and shorter rays than White Oak.