Compression wood (C-wood), is an abnormal type of wood tissue found in conifers that helps to maintain the posture of their stems and branches. Alongside C-wood, lateral wood (L-wood) and opposite wood (O-wood) can also be found in leaning stems and branch wood. C-wood is often considered undesirable in commercial lumber, wood-based panels, and pulp and paper manufacturing and presents unique challenges. Various studies have explored the anatomical characteristics of C-wood and O-wood across different species, documenting and summarizing the findings from a number of studies. However, the characteristics of L-wood have not yet been reported. This study aimed to provide a comprehensive understanding of the anatomical characteristics of C-wood, L-wood, and O-wood in the stem wood of both tropical and temperate commercial softwood from most recent articles. Notable results included the consistent observation of C-wood displaying the shortest tracheid length, thickest cell walls, lowest relative crystallinity, numbers and diameters of the pit in the cross-field, and greatest microfibril angles, whereas L-wood and O-wood exhibited varied patterns.
Byantara Darsan Purusatama [ Institute of Forest Science, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 24341, Republic of Korea/Research Center for Biomass and Bioproducts, National Research and Innovation Agency, Cibinong 16911, Indonesia ]
Nam Hun Kim [ Department of Forest Biomaterials Engineering, College of Forest and Environmental Sciences, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 24341, Republic of Korea ]
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