Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture ProCon Money Videos
heartwood
Introduction References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics
Images
sapwood and heartwood 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.
Quick Facts
Also called:
duramen
Related Topics:
wood
See all related content
Britannica AI Icon
Adding us as a Preferred Source tells Google you trust our content, so our articles show up more often in your Google Search, Discover feed, and AI Overviews.
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
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

heartwood

plant anatomy
Also known as: duramen
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

heartwood, dead, central wood of trees. Its cells usually contain tannins or other substances that make it dark in colour and sometimes aromatic. Heartwood is mechanically strong, resistant to decay, and less easily penetrated by wood-preservative chemicals than other types of wood. One or more layers of living and functional sapwood cells are periodically converted to heartwood. See also sapwood; xylem.