We investigated the wood of nine tree species from the rose (Rosaceae) family, namely: sweet cherry (Prunus avium), sour cherry (Prunus cerasus), plum (Prunus domestica), cherry plum (Prunus cerasifera), apricot (Prunus armeniaca), peach (Prunus persica), quince (Cydonia oblonga), apple (Malus domestica) and pear (Pyrus communis). After the preparation of samples and microscopic slides of dendrologically precisely identified trees from orchards we observed the wood under the microscope, defined its anatomical features and provided instructions for its microscopic and macroscopic identification. The wood of the researched species has the following common characteristics: the growth rings can be clearly distinguished, the vessel elements are short with simple perforations and helical thickenings, and the rays appear in two size ranks (1-3 and 4-10 seriate rays). The species differ in the colour of the heartwood, vessel distribution (diffuse or semi-ring porous), presence (or absence) of gum deposits in the vessels, and in types of rays (homogenous or heterogeneous). Every species has been described by a combination of macro- and microscopic features for wood identification, photographs of wood on micro- and macroscopic level, and by main wood properties collected from the literature. The results suggest that the distinguishing of the investigated wood species is difficult both on the microand macroscopic level. The assembled wood samples, microscopic slides and descriptions will serve as a reference collection to facilitate future identification of wood of fruit trees' species.
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