Pines
Pines are coniferous trees in the genus Pinus. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.
Pines are native to most of the Northern Hemisphere. Pines are evergreen and resinous trees (rarely shrubs) growing to 3–80 m tall, with the majority of species reaching between 15-45 m tall.
The smallest are Siberian Dwarf Pine and Potosi Pinyon, and the tallest, Sugar Pine. Pines are long-lived, typically reaching ages of 100–1,000 years, some even more. The bark of most pines is thick and scaly, but some species have thin, flaking bark.
Sapele
Sapele is a large tree, up to 45 m high native to tropical Africa. The leaves are deciduous in the dry season, alternately arranged, pinnate, with 5-9 pairs of leaflets, each leaflet about 10 cm long. The flowers are produced in loose inflorescences when the tree is leafless, each flower about 5 mm diameter, with five yellowish petals. The fruit is a pendulous capsule about 10 cm long and 4 cm broad; when mature it splits into five sections to release the 15-20 seeds.
Soft Woods
Pitch Pine
The Pitch Pine is a small-to-medium sized tree, which grows irregularly. This pine occasionally hybridizes with other pine species such as Loblolly Pine. The Pitch Pine is found mainly in the northeastern United States, from Maine and Ohio to Kentucky and northern Georgia. This pine occupies a variety of habitats from dry, acidic sandy uplands to swampy lowlands, and can survive in very poor conditions; it is the primary tree of the New Jersey Pine Barrens. The needles are in fascicles of three, about 6-13 cm in length, and are stout (over 1 mm broad) and often slightly twisted. The cones are 4-7 cm long and oval with prickles on the scales. The species is unusual in often having shoots that can grow directly from the trunk. The Pitch Pine is not a major timber tree, due to the frequency of multiple or crooked trunks; nor is it as fast-growing as other eastern American pines. However it grows well on unfavorable sites.
Sitka Spruce
The Sitka Spruce is a large coniferous evergreen tree growing to 50–70 m tall, and with a trunk diameter of up to 5 m, exceptionally to 6–7 m diameter. It is by far the largest species of spruce, and the third tallest conifer species in the world. It acquires its name from the community of Sitka, Alaska.
The bark is thin and scaly, flaking off in small circular plates 5–20 cm across. The crown is broad conic in young trees, becoming cylindrical in older trees; old trees may have no branches in the lowest 30–40 m. The shoots are very pale buff-brown, almost white, and hairless.
Part 2
This Wooden Box Was Made Out Of Ash Wood.
This Bench Was Made Out Of Pine Wood.
This Table Was Made Out Of Sapele Wood.
This Table Was Made Out Of Pitch Pine Wood.
This Table Was Made Out Of Sitka Spruce Wood.
Task 3
Tree Rings
Tree-ring is the method of scientific dating based on the analysis of tree-ring growth patterns. This technique was developed during the first half of the 20th century originally by the astronomer A. E. Douglass, the founder of the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research at the University of Arizona. Growth rings also referred to as tree rings or annual rings, can be seen in a horizontal cross section cut through the trunk of a tree. The inner portion of a growth ring is formed early in the growing season, when growth is comparatively rapid and is known as "early wood" or "spring wood" or "late-spring wood". The outer portion is the "late wood, often being produced in the summer, though sometimes in the autumn and is denser.
