Woodlands Glossary

This is a list of specialist words concerned with woodlands and trees.

Afforestation

The planting of trees on previously unwooded land.

Agroforesty

The growing of trees on land also used for the production of crops or livestock

Ancient woodland

Woodland that has existed continuously on the site since 1600 AD or earlier.

Arboriculture

The cultivation of trees and shrubs to produce specimens mainly for ornamental and landscape value rather than for timber production.

Assart

An historical term for a woodland area cleared for arable cultivation.

Bare-root tree

Tree lifted for transplanting without soil around its roots.

Bark

Outer protective tissue of a woody stem.

Bast

Thin layer of tissue between the bark and the cambium, which carries leaf-sap downwards to the roots.

Beam

A squared section of timber for use in construction, typically with a minimum length of 6m (20’) and minimum sides of 200mm (8”) and cut from heartwood of a straight oak log with no large side branches.

Beating up

Replacing failures after tree planting, also known as filling up.

Blaze

To mark a tree, usually for felling, by removing a piece of bark from the trunk.

Bole

The stem or trunk of a tree.

Bolling

The permanent trunk of a pollarded tree.

Brash

Small branches trimmed from the sides and top of a main stem. Also known as ‘lop and top’ or ‘slash’. (v) To cut away the side branches of conifers to about 2m (6’) height to improve access or to reduce fire risk.

Bryophytes

Mosses and liverworts.

Butt

Bottom (root) end of a log/pole.

Buttress

Reinforcing projection near the base of the tree. Also known as a spur.

Callus

Healing tissue formed by the cambium which grows out over a wound.

Cambium

A layer of growth cells which form bast to the outside and wood on the inside.

Canopy

The uppermost layer of woodland structure.

Carr

Fen scrub.

Chase

A tract of land where wild animals were conserved for hunting, similar to a Forest but not owned by the Crown.

Clearfelling

Felling a whole woodland or compartment at one time.

Clone

A tree or strain of trees propagated vegetatively from a single individual.

Collar

The part of the stem at ground level where shoot meets root. Usually shown by a soil mark.

Compartment

A management area within a woodland that is given an individual name or number.

Coppice

Broadleaved woodland which is cut down to near ground level at regular intervals to produce shoots from each stool. Also a multistemmed underwood tree or shrub created by coppicing. (v) To cut the stems from a stool so that more will grow.

Copse

Another name for a coppice.

Cord

A volume of stacked logs, usually 2.4 x 1.2 x 1.2m (8’ x 4’ x 4’), but varying in different districts. (v) To cut wood to cord lengths and stack it in a cord.

Coupe

A coppice plot cut on a regular basis, or a clear-felled area in a plantation. Also known as a cant or panel.

Covert

A small wood, usually within farmland, managed primarily for game.

Crown

The spreading branches and foliage of a tree.

Crown lifting

Removal of the lower branches of a tree, leaving the upper crown untouched.

Crown reduction

Pruning back the crown to its main branches whilst maintaining its overall shape.

Cutting

A short length of young shoot or root used to propagate a new plant.

Danger zone

The area within two tree lengths, in any direction, of a tree being felled.

Drift

Cut coppice material or brash laid in rows for sorting or disposal.

Drip line

The ground below the outermost branches of a tree’s crown, where most of its feeding roots are concentrated.

Emergent tree

A tree whose crown overtops the standards in the woodland canopy.

Epicormic shoots

Shoots sprouting from dormant or adventitious buds on a tree’s main stem.

Epiphyte

A plant growing on another without being parasitic.

Extraction

The removal of felled timber from a woodland.

Extraction track

A track cut for the extraction of timber.

Feathered tree

A young tree well furnished with branches to near ground level.

Felling cut

The cut made from the back of the stem which fells the tree. Also known as the back cut.

Field layer

The part of the woodland structure containing low-growing shrubs, herbaceous plants, grasses, bulbs and ferns.

Flush

An area of ground receiving nutrient-rich runoff. (v) The first spurt of growth after winter dormancy when the buds break.

Forest

Originally, a tract of heath, moor or woodland controlled by the Crown for the purpose of conserving deer and other wild animals, and subject to Forest Law. Now, used to describe a densely wooded area, normally a conifer plantation.

Formative pruning

The pruning of branches, usually within three to ten years of planting, in order to improve timber quality.

Greenwood

Freshly felled wood.

Ground layer

The part of the woodland structure which comprises mosses, liverworts, lichens and fungi.

Group felling

Felling of a group of trees or a subcompartment within a woodland.

Hanger

A wood growing on the side of a hill.

Harden off

The process of acclimatising nursery grown plants to the conditions in which they will be planted.

Hardwood

Any broadleaved (deciduous) tree, irrespective of the actual hardness of the wood.

Heartwood

The inner wood of large branches and trunks, which no longer carries sap. After felling, it becomes the most durable part of the timber. In older living trees, it may decay.

High forest

Woodland dominated by full-grown trees, suitable for timber.

Hinge

A portion of stem which is left uncut during felling, in order to help control the timing and direction of fall. Also known as a hold.

Hoppus foot

Unit of measurement for the cubic contents of round timber.

1 Hoppus foot = 0.036 m3

1m3 = 27.74 Hoppus feet

Kerf

The cut made by a saw.

Layer

A side shoot which roots to form a new but connected plant where it touches the ground.

(v) To bend over and peg down a shoot so that it will take root.

Laying in

Cutting away the buttresses of a tree before felling. Also known as rounding up.

Leader

The main top shoot of a tree.

Maiden tree

Any tree not grown from a coppice stump.

Mast

The fruit of the oak and beech tree. A mast year is a year in which large quantities of mast are produced.

Natural regeneration

Trees and shrubs which arise from naturally-shed seeds, without help by man.

Node

A swelling on a shoot which marks the position of a resting bud.

Nurse species

Hardy, quick-growing trees grown fo the purpose of providing shelter for other young trees which are less hardy, slower growing or more valuable.

Park

Originally, land enclosed for the keeping of deer and other animals. Later, an area enclosed for amenity.

Plantation

Woodland where mostof the trees have been planted.

Pole stage

Stage between the thicket stage and maturity in a timber crop. For broadleaves, from first thinning to about 50 years. For conifers, from first thinning to about 40 years.

Pollard

Tree which is cut at 2-4m (6’-12’) above ground level, and left to produce a crop of poles or branches. (v) To cut a tree in this way.

Primary woodland

Woodland that has had a continuous cover of native trees throughout its history.

Prog

A stout forked pole used for pushing and levering trees during felling and conversion.

Provenance

The place of origin of a tree stock, which remains the same no matter where later generations of the tree are raised.

Pruning

Cutting branches from a standing tree, to alter its shape, encourage upright growth, remove diseased branches or encourage fruiting.

Recent woodland

Woodland which has grown up since 1600, on land which had previously been cleared, or was previously not wooded.

Respace

To cut out surplus young trees from natural regeneration.

Ring shake

Splitting of timber along the annual rings.

Roundwood

Wood of small diameter used for fencing stakes and other purposes for which splitting or other conversion is not needed.

Rotation

Length of time between successive fellings of a plantation or cuttings of a coppice coupe.

Sapwood

Wood which carries sap. This may be all the wood in a young stem, or the outmost layer in an older, larger trunk or branch. Sapwood resists decay when alive, but is not durable when felled.

Sawlog

Timber of a size and quality acceptable to a sawmill. Typically, straight, clean stems at least 16cm (6”) diameter and at least 3m (10’) long.

Screefing

Scraping away surface vegetation prior to tree planting, to reduce initial weed competition.

Secondary woodland

Woodland growing on a site that was formerly not woodland. Can be ancient, if it grew up before 1600.

Selective felling

Felling to remove particular trees of commercial value.

Semi-natural woodland

On ancient sites, woods made up of native species growing where their presence is apparently natural rather than planted. On recent sites, woods which have originated mainly by natural regeneration. Both types are subject to man’s influence.

Set

A large unrooted cutting, usually of willow or poplar.

Shake

Cracking of timber due to stresses of growth, impact of felling or drying.

Shredding

A method of cropping branches for fodder, by periodically cutting off the side branches of a tree. Obsolete in Britain, but still used on the continent.

Short rotation coppice

Coppice grown on a short rotation, of up to about ten years, and used for hurdle making and other crafts. Also a modern system of coppicing using fast growing species of willow or poplar, which are cut on a three to five year rotation, for the production of woodchips for wood-fuelled electricity generation.

Shrub layer

The part of the woodland structure which includes shrubs and young growth of canopy trees. This layer may be coppiced.

Singling

Retaining one stem on a coppice stool and allowing it to grow into a standard tree.

Sink

A wedge-shaped cut made in the front of a tree, in order to control the direction of fall when felling. Also known as a bird’s mouth.

Snedding

The removal of branches from a felled tree.

Softwood

The timber of a coniferous tree, irrespective of the hardness of the timber.

Stag-head

Old tree with crown that has died back, leaving the upper branches dead.

Standard

A tree with a clear stem or trunk.  transplanted tree with 1.8m (6’) or more of unbranched stem. In woodland structure, a tree forming the dominant layer of the canopy.

Stem

The living trunk of a shrub or tree.

Stool

The stump or cut base of a shrub or tree, from which new shoots grow.

Stooling

A method of propagating coppice in which cut stools are earthed over to encourage new shoots to produce roots.

Stored coppice

Coppice which has been left to grow beyond its normal rotation.

Structure

Determined by height and density of crowns, presence of layers, glades and types of wood margin.

Succession

The process by which one community of plants gives way to another, normally from coloniser to climax.

Sucker

A young tree arising from the roots of an older tree.

Thicket stage

Stage after planting and before the pole stage, when young trees have grown up to form a dense thicket.

Thinning

Removal of selected trees from a a crop to give the remainder more growing space. A tree so removed.

Timber

Tree trunk suitable for making beams or sawing into planks; a tree with such a trunk, the use made of such a trunk.

Transplant

Tree moved from one place to another, eg from nursery to growing site.

Undercut

Cut made in the front of a tree to reduce the chance of splitting when felling. Also refers to cutting the roots of tree seedlings in a nursery without removing them from the soil, in order to promote branching roots.

Underplanting

The planting of a new forest crop under an existing one.

Understorey tree

A tree with a crown below those of the dominant trees in the canopy.

Underwood

Coppice growth, shrubs or pollard growth, either growing or cut, and used for fuel and other purposes.

Whip

A young tree for transplanting, 120-180cm (4-6’) height.

Windblow

Trees blown down and wholly or partly uprooted. Also known as windthrow.

Wood

The part of the stem, inside the cambium, which supports the tree, carries water to the crown and stores reserves of food over the winter. Also poles and branches of smaller diameter than timber.

Woodbank

A boundary bank surrounding or subdividing a woodland.

Wood-pasture

Wooded land which is regularly grazed, and includes areas of grassland.

Yield class

A system of assessing the productivity of a crop of trees based upon the measurement of tree height and age.