Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture ProCon Money Videos
bark
Introduction References & Edit History Related Topics
Images
Close-up of rough, textured pine bark with orange and gray patches, with blurred trees and greenery in the background. Several thick, curled brown sticks of dried Cinnamomum cassia bark, also known as Chinese cinnamon, arranged on a light wooden surface. Illustration of a tree trunk cross-section with labeled features including outer and inner bark, sapwood, heartwood, pith, and growth rings, plus radial, tangential, and transverse surfaces.
Feedback
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Thank you for your feedback

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

External Websites
Britannica Websites
Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.
Close-up of rough, textured pine bark with orange and gray patches, with blurred trees and greenery in the background.
Bark Bark of a pine tree.

bark

plant tissue
Written and fact-checked by
Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
Britannica Editors
History

bark, in woody plants, tissues external to the vascular cambium (the growth layer of the vascular cylinder); the term bark is also employed more popularly to refer to all tissues outside the wood. The inner soft bark, or bast, is produced by the vascular cambium; it consists of secondary phloem tissue whose innermost layer conveys food from the leaves to the rest of the plant. The outer bark, which is mostly dead tissue, is the...

Discover the world with Britannica

Subscribe to Continue Reading

Free Trial | No Ads | Exclusive Content
Explore Subscriptions
DNA
Right
Mobile