Vice City

. The greatest increase due to drying is in the ultimate crushing strength, and strength at elastic limit in endwise compression; these are followed by the modulus of rupture, and stress at elastic limit in cross-bending, while the modulus of elasticity is least affected. As we say in these parts, our welcome may not always be friendly, but it's always warm.". An extreme example is the case of a completely dry spruce block 5 cm in section, which will sustain a permanent load four times as great as that which a green block of the same size will support. Besides, we serve the best tacos in the south-east, and there's no denying the Vice City orange juice is the finest in the USA. Drying produces a decided increase in the strength of wood, particularly in small specimens. Mary Clam, President of the Tourist Board, told us 'Vice City has a deservedly bad reputation as a very dangerous city, but as long as visitors stay out of the downtown area, only go out in daylight hours and never leave their car, they stand a very good chance of survival. Within certain limits the greater the water content the greater its softening effect.

As Mrs. A similar effect of common observation is in the softening action of water on paper or cloth. Still, it's not all bad. The general effect of the water content upon the wood substance is to render it softer and more pliable. Vice City now boasts the highest murder rates, the highest amounts of drug-related crime and the least respected police department of anywhere in the USA. Even oven-dried wood retains a small percentage of moisture, but for all except chemical purposes, may be considered absolutely dry. Initial attempts to control the troubles by the Police Department failed following revelations of wide spread corruption and drug trafficking within the force, and the problems have escalated in the last five years. Wood that is thoroughly air-dried retains from 8-16% of water in the cell walls, and none, or practically none, in the other forms.

The once-peaceful Rastafarian community has become a haven for Yardie criminals who found the going a little too hot in Kingston, and their clashes with the Colombian drug lords have given western Vice City an unenviable reputation. In heartwood it occurs only in the first and last forms. More than anywhere else in America, Vice City is the archetypal 'melting pot', with large Caribbean, Colombian and European communities, always feuding with another, often with very violent consequences. Water occurs in living wood in three conditions, namely: (1) in the cell walls, (2) in the protoplasmic contents of the cells, and (3) as free water in the cell cavities and spaces. Modern-day visitors might feel slighlty-less fortunate if they take a wrong turning and stumble into the nastier corners of Little Dominica. If ease of working is prized, wood should be chosen with regard to its uniformity of texture and straightness of grain, which will in most cases occur when there is little contrast between the late wood of one season's growth and the early wood of the next. The down town area of Felicity is so-called to reflect the fortune early settlers felt at arriving at such a beautiful place. In many uses of wood, strength is not the main consideration.

From the retired doctors and lawyers of Vice Beach to the cocaine dealers of Little Bogota, everyone is desperate to show off just how much they can spend in this subtropical paradise. In general it may be stated that such woods of medium growth afford stronger material than when very rapidly or very slowly grown. "A former Spanish slaving colony, Vice City, or City of the Fallen Angel, holy mother of all and yet of nothing, to give it it's Spanish name, is a city that revolves around just one thing; money. The effect of rate of growth is, therefore, not the same as in the ring-porous woods, approaching more nearly the conditions in the conifers. From the official website:. In diffuse-porous woods, as has been stated, the vessels or pores are scattered throughout the ring instead of collected in the early wood. Leith Links is where the earliest record of golf is found in the world, and Leith bolster's its claim to be "the home of golf" because the first official rules were formulated there. The effect of rate of growth on the qualities of chestnut wood is summarized by the same authority as follows:.

The name "Leaf Links" is possibly inspired by "Leith Links", a park in Leith near Rockstar North's HQ in Edinburgh, Scotland. Forest Service show that:. Leaf Links may also be inspired by the number of country clubs scattered along the eastern coast of Miami, including the Bayshore Country Club and La Gorce Golf Course in Miami Beach, Normandy Shores Golf Course, Indian Creek and Haulover Park. The results of a series of tests on hickory by the U.S. The logic of a country club in Vice City may be attributed by the presence of wealthy residents and ideally sunny weather in the city. Here not only strength, but toughness and resilience are important. Indeed, golf carts are constantly seen in and around the club as a form of transportation, including on the open road surrounded by the club compound. This is particularly the case in the choice of hickory for handles and spokes.

The Leaf Links country club consists primarily of golf courses, as well as tennis courts and the clubhouse. Wide-ringed wood is often called "second-growth", because the growth of the young timber in open stands after the old trees have been removed is more rapid than in trees in the forest, and in the manufacture of articles where strength is an important consideration such "second-growth" hardwood material is preferred. Much of the eastern island's narrow waterways are formed from the partitions between Leaf Links and Vice Point. Such variation is very largely the result of rate of growth. A road cuts through the middle of the island cluster, where the clubhouse-cum-entrance is located, requiring a pedestrian bridge to connect both half of the clusters. In inferior oak, such fibre areas are much reduced both in quantity and quality. Leaf Links is a collection of three islands located just west of Vice Point encompassing the Leaf Links Country Club, each island connected to another island with bridges. The late wood of good oak, except for radial grayish patches of small pores, is dark colored and firm, and consists of thick-walled fibres which form one-half or more of the wood.

Whether or not the studio was previously used for filming of more decent movies remains unknown (although several movie sets that seem relatively unrelated to pornography were seen in the studio, including a movie set for a moon landing). In good oak these large vessels of the early wood occupy from 6 to 10 per cent of the volume of the log, while in inferior material they may make up 25 per cent or more. Interglobal Studios, the sole film studio in the island and in Vice City, presently serves as a pornography film studio for pornography film director Steve Scott and was bought off by Tommy Vercetti later in the storyline (the name "Prawn" may be a play on pr0n). As the breadth of ring diminishes, this middle portion is reduced so that very slow growth produces comparatively light, porous wood composed of thin-walled vessels and wood parenchyma. Most of these premises and homes, however, have long been abandoned, and the mansions are now occupied by the Streetwannabes', a street gang. In ring-porous woods of good growth it is usually the middle portion of the ring in which the thick-walled, strength-giving fibres are most abundant. Like Starfish Island, Prawn Island consists of several mansions, in addition to several adjoining businesses and a film studio. This, it must be remembered, applies only to ring-porous woods such as oak, ash, hickory, and others of the same group, and is, of course, subject to some exceptions and limitations.

Prawn Island is a small northern island linking Downtown Vice City in the west and Vice Point in the east. This may be briefly summed up in the general statement that the more rapid the growth or the wider the rings of growth, the heavier, harder, stronger, and stiffer the wood. The main interior of the mansion strongly resembles the home of fictional drug lord Tony Montana in the 1983 film Scarface, only missing the "The World Is Yours" globe and the lavish master bedroom. In the case of the ring-porous hardwoods there seems to exist a pretty definite relation between the rate of growth of timber and its properties. The largest residence Starfish Island is the Diaz Mansion, previously owned by drug baron Ricardo Diaz and acquired by the player part-way through the game (and renamed Vercetti Estate), which comes complete with a rooftop helipad. But in choosing a particular specimen it is not the width of ring, but the proportion and character of the late wood which should govern. The area is also supplied with their own security guards, who patrol the island and open fire upon any troublemakers; this gives the residents of the area a feeling of safety, and not at least because of the island's proximity to the gang-riddled townships of Little Havana and Little Haiti. In general, however, it may be said that where strength or ease of working is essential, woods of moderate to slow growth should be chosen.

Starfish Island is a community of upper-wealth residents, most of whom live in large houses and mansions, some with their own jetty. The quality of the site where the tree grows undoubtedly affects the character of the wood formed, though it is not possible to formulate a rule governing it. Starfish Island is the third largest island in Vice City and is based on Miami's exclusive Star Island; or perhaps other island communities such as North Bay Village, low-density residential islands along the Venetian Causeway, and residential islands ajoining the MacAuthur Causeway. In conifers, at least, rate of growth alone does not determine the proportion of the two portions of the ring, for in some cases the wood of slow growth is very hard and heavy, while in others the opposite is true. In addition, Vice Port does not cater for cruise ships, unlike Miami Port (which has operated a cruise ship terminal since 1968), focusing instead on solely cargo shipping. Several factors may be involved. However, Vice Port is located in the mainland, while the Port of Miami is located on an island, covering much of the southern entrance of Biscayne Bay. No satisfactory explanation can as yet be given for the real causes underlying the formation of early and late wood.

Fascell Port of Miami-Dade (Port of Miami), located on the southern edge of the bay, similar to the Port of Miami's in Biscayne Bay. One can judge comparative density, and therefore to some extent weight and strength, by visual inspection. Southeast of the EIA compound is VicePort (short for Vice City Port Authority), the city's seaport, and a possible play of the Dante B. In specimens that show a very large proportion of late wood it may be noticeably more porous and weigh considerably less than the late wood in pieces that contain but little. Further north in the airport peninsular is the Fort Baxter Air Base, a military installation that houses military equipment and personnel. It is not only the proportion of late wood, but also its quality, that counts. Both structures are separated by lawns and a car park, and it is unknown if the terminals are connected in any other way aside roads. The width of ring is not nearly so important as the proportion of the late wood in the ring.

The EIA consists of two terminals, one at the north which is basically a standard blocky terminal (with the addition of below ground entrances), while the other in the south is more distinctive, with its weaved roof and roof-high windows facing the airport's southern airside. In choosing a piece of pine where strength or stiffness is the important consideration, the principal thing to observe is the comparative amounts of early and late wood. Also, all airports in Miami are located inland, but the EIA is located on a peninsula. The strength is in the walls, not the cavities. Although mildly similar in location as Miami's international airport (neighboring Little Havana), the airport structures and layout of the compound do not appear to be based on any airports seen in Miami. When examined under a microscope the cells of the late wood are seen to be very thick-walled and with very small cavities, while those formed first in the season have thin walls and large cavities. Vice City's airport is known as the Escobar International Airport (EIA), or Escobar International in short, a possible pun on Pablo Escobar, an infamous Colombian drug lord. The late wood of all species is denser than that formed early in the season, hence the greater the proportion of late wood the greater the density and strength.

Kaufman Cabs, a local taxi cab company, is also based in Little Haiti. If a heavy piece of pine is compared with a light specimen it will be seen at once that the heavier one contains a larger proportion of late wood than the other, and is therefore considerably darker. Phil Cassidy's home and weapons armory is located on the northwest end of Little Haiti. Some species, such as walnut and cherry, are on the border between the two classes, forming an intermediate group. A large printing press, which would be purchased by Tommy Vercetti later in the storyline for a money counterfeiting business, is located at the border between Little Haiti and Little Havana. Examples of this kind of wood are basswood, birch, buckeye, maple, poplar, and willow. Little Haiti is noted to be more run-down than Little Havana, with the presence of poorly maintained buildings, and low wealth businesses and smaller homes. In diffuse-porous woods the pores are scattered throughout the growth ring instead of being collected in a band or row.

The gang's solvent, located at the west side of Little Haiti, was destroyed in a Cuban ambush, aided by Tommy Vercetti. These fibres are the elements which give strength and toughness to wood, while the vessels are a source of weakness. Also inspired by a real-life district in Miami, "Little Haiti" is believed to be predominantly inhabited by Haitians and is home to the Haitian gang, led by Auntie Poulet, from her shack in the center of Little Haiti. The rest of the ring, produced in summer, is made up of smaller vessels and a much greater proportion of wood fibres. The Cherry Poppers ice cream distribution center, an asset open for purchase by Tommy Vercetti is also located within the vicinity. In ring-porous species, such as ash, black locust, catalpa, chestnut, elm, hickory, mulberry, and oak, the larger vessels or pores (as cross sections of vessels are called) are localized in the part of the growth ring formed in spring, thus forming a region of more or less open and porous tissue. A Vice City police department is located at the southeastern tip of Little Havana. In discussing such woods it is customary to divide them into two large classes, ring-porous and diffuse-porous.

Due to Little Havana's proximity with Little Haiti, occasional fights and gun battles between Cuban and Haitian gangs erupt in areas bordering the two districts. They are more or less filled with vessels: in some cases (oak, chestnut, ash) quite large and distinct, in others (buckeye, poplar, willow) too small to be seen plainly without a small hand lens. The area is controlled by the Cuban gang, led by Umberto Robina from his father's cafe, located in the southwest end of Little Havana. The structure of the hardwoods is more complex. Drawing from the real-life Little Havana in Miami, Vice City's "Little Havana" consists of a predominantly Spanish-speaking Cuban population. There are no vessels ("pores") in coniferous wood such as one sees so prominently in oak and ash, for example. An unnamed beach is also located west of Downtown, but it receives no visitors or attention, a stark contrast to Washington Beach in the Ocean Beach area. In coniferous or softwood species the wood cells are mostly of one kind, tracheids, and as a result the material is much more uniform in structure than that of most hardwoods.

Other places of interest include the Electronics District, the Vice City News (VCN) headquarters, the Greasy Chopper bikers' bar, and a venue for a Love Fist concert, just south of the V-Rock radio station. Ordinary sap-staining is due to fungous growth, but does not necessarily produce a weakening effect. In addition, Downtown serves as the location for the local heavy metal radio station V-Rock and an enclosed recording studio, where lead singer for rock band Love Fist, Jezz Torrent, was seen recording a song. Certain rot-producing fungi impart to wood characteristic colors which thus become symptomatic of weakness. The area also boasts of the Hyman Memorial Stadium, west of Downtown, which serves as an staging area for events such as stock car races, demolition derbies and dirt bike stunt shows; it is not known, however, if the stadium is used for any other sporting activities, although Vice City does feature at least one sports team (The Vice City Mambas professional American football team, which featured former tight-end BJ Smith). The discoloration is merely an indication of an injury, and in all probability does not of itself affect the properties of the wood. Like its real-life counterpart, Downtown is believed to be a more formal, financial district of Vice City, with a number of large office buildings, including the city's tallest building, possibly based on the Wachovia Financial Center and the Bank of America Tower. The reddish-brown streaks so common in hickory and certain other woods are mostly the result of injury by birds.

Downtown is a play of downtown Miami, where the areas sees the highest concentration of skyscrapers, both residential and commercial. The black check in western hemlock is the result of insect attacks. The western island is possibly based on mainland Miami. Abnormal discoloration of wood often denotes a diseased condition, indicating unsoundness. The western island contains a wide four-lane road at its east side that stretches from the south end, at the seaports, to the north end, at the southern tip of Downtown. Except in the manner just stated the color of wood is no indication of strength. Two sizable district housing immigrant populations are located in the middle, with one of these districts depicted in a dilapidated state. In ring-porous woods the vessels of the early wood not infrequently appear on a finished surface as darker than the denser late wood, though on cross sections of heartwood the reverse is commonly true.

The western island houses much of the city's industrial population, as well as seaport and airport facilities at the south. This is particularly the case with coniferous woods. Vice City's western island is depicted as a less glamorous area of the city, although the business district of Downtown is in fact located on the north end of the island. Since the late wood of a growth ring is usually darker in color than the early wood, this fact may be used in judging the density, and therefore the hardness and strength of the material. The mall's layout, though much smaller, also resembles that of Aventura Mall. Spruce impregnated with crude resin and dried is also greatly increased in strength thereby. Its location in the northeastern most point of the East Island is similar to Aventura Mall's location in the extreme northeastern most point of the Miami Metro Area. Stumps thus dug may actually remain a century or more since being cut.

The North Point Mall, located in Vice Point, is a parody of Miami's Aventura Mall. Stumps of old longleaf pines are often dug, split into small pieces and sold as kindling for fires. This set-up resembles the rows of developments along Collins Avenue in Miami Beach, as well as the residential set-up of that city. Structures built of fat lighter are almost impervious to rot and termites; however they are very flammable. Vice Point is a more middle class and residential area of Vice Beach consisting of larger apartment buildings and hotels aligned along the shore as well as medium sized homes and smaller apartment complexes inland. Such resin-saturated heartwood is called "fat lighter". The lighthouse located at the southeastern most point mimics the Cape Florida Lighthouse, the oldest structure in Miami, located in Key Biscayne, and a popular beachside tourist destination. This is due to the resin which increases the strength when dry.

Most of the buildings alongside this stretch of road are almost exactly like their real life counterparts in architecture and layout. Some experiments on very resinous Longleaf Pine specimens, however, indicate an increase in strength. A South Beach-like row of Art Deco and Modernist low rises affront a wide beach, dubbed Washington Beach, is also present; the road stretched along the row mimics that of Ocean Drive. This is produced by deposits in the heartwood of various materials resulting from the process of growth, increased possibly by oxidation and other chemical changes, which usually have little or no appreciable effect on the mechanical properties of the wood. The area is primarily occupied by seaside and beachside apartments, hotels and upper-class businesses. In species which show a distinct difference between heartwood and sapwood the natural color of heartwood is usually darker than that of the sapwood, and very frequently the contrast is conspicuous. Ocean Beach is an upper-class tourist district consisting of a few skyscrapers and many low rises, directly based on South Beach and located in the southeastern most of Vice City. yew) are harder than most hardwoods.

The eastern island is clearly based on Miami Beach, Florida. Conversely, some softwoods (e.g. The island also has a canal on its west side, with neighboring Leaf Links forming additional waterways. The well-known balsa (a hardwood) is actually softer than any commercial softwood. The eastern island is also known for its wide beach, dubbed Washington Beach, on its east side, which makes up an estimated half of the island's landmass. These names are a bit misleading, as hardwoods are not necessarily hard, and softwoods are not necessarily soft. The eastern island of Vice City is depicted as the more affluent and tourist-oriented side of the city, which is mostly dominated by upper-wealth businesses, as well as residential condominiums, apartments and construction sites. oak) is called hardwood.

The population of Vice City is given at around 1.8 million. pine) is called softwood, and the wood from broad-leaved trees (e.g. Each main island is divided into several districts. The wood from conifers (e.g. Vice City consists of two main islands and five smaller islands; both main islands are separated by a large body of water similar to that of Biscayne Bay, which separates Miami Beach with mainland Miami in real-life. Wood is commonly classified as either softwood or hardwood. The city is also located on the same fictional earth as Liberty City and the state of San Andreas - the locations of Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The densest wood may be black ironwood.

This is further reinforced with its theme of the drug business and crime, as well as the presence of new upper-class businesses and residents in the city, with some of them likely to be funded by the drug business. For example, while mahogany is a medium-dense hardwood which is excellent for fine furniture crafting, balsa is light, making it useful for model building. Vice City, as depicted in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, is set in 1986, a reference to 1980s Miami, which became a major transshipment point for cocaine from South America at the time. There is a rough correlation between density of a wood and its strength (mechanical properties). . For every trees species there is a range of density for the wood it yields. It is also suggested in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City that the city is exposed to hurricanes (early in the game, bridges were closed from the public as a hurricane was believed to be approaching the city), as is Miami. There is a strong relationship between the properties of wood and the properties of the particular tree that yielded it.

Vice City is geographically similar to Miami; located in the shorelines of Southeastern United States, Vice City receives subtropical or near-tropical weather with year-long sunny weathers, occasional strong winds and rainfall. In a large log the sapwood, because of the time in the life of the tree when it was grown, may be inferior in hardness, strength, and toughness to equally sound heartwood from the same log. It is the setting of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and a level in the original Grand Theft Auto. In some trees, the wood laid on late in the life of a tree is softer, lighter, weaker, and more even-textured than that produced earlier, but in other species, the reverse applies. Vice City is a fictional city in the Grand Theft Auto series that is loosely based on Miami, Florida. There may be decided differences in the grain of heartwood and sapwood cut from a large tree, particularly one that is mature. Upon the whole, however, as a tree gets larger in diameter the width of the growth rings decreases.

Some trees, such as southern oaks, maintain the same width of ring for hundreds of years. In the case of forest-grown trees so much depends upon the competition of the trees in their struggle for light and nourishment that periods of rapid and slow growth may alternate. As a tree reaches maturity its crown becomes more open and the annual wood production is lessened, thereby reducing still more the width of the growth rings. Since each succeeding ring is laid down on the outside of the wood previously formed, it follows that unless a tree materially increases its production of wood from year to year, the rings must necessarily become thinner as the trunk gets wider.

The annual rings of growth are for many years quite wide, but later they become narrower and narrower. If a tree grows all its life in the open and the conditions of soil and site remain unchanged, it will make its most rapid growth in youth, and gradually decline. Whatever advantages, however, that sapwood may have in this connection are due solely to its relative age and position. The larvae of many insects bore into the trees and their tunnels remain indefinitely as sources of weakness.

Every broken limb or root, or deep wound from fire, insects, or falling timber, may afford an entrance for decay, which, once started, may penetrate to all parts of the trunk. It is remarkable that the inner heartwood of old trees remains as sound as it usually does, since in many cases it is hundreds of years, and in a few instances thousands of years, old. Since in most uses of wood, knots are defects that weaken the timber and interfere with its ease of working and other properties, it follows that sapwood, because of its position in the tree, may have certain advantages over heartwood. Consequently the sapwood of an old tree, and particularly of a forest-grown tree, will be freer from knots than the heartwood.

No matter how smooth and clear a log is on the outside, it is more or less knotty near the middle. Subsequent growth of wood may completely conceal the stubs which will however remain as knots. When a tree is very young it is covered with limbs almost, if not entirely, to the ground, but as it grows older some or all of them will eventually die and be broken off. Sapwood is thicker in the upper portion of the trunk of a tree than near the base, because the age and the diameter of the upper sections are less.

As the tree gets larger, the sapwood must necessarily become thinner or increase materially in volume. If the rings are narrow, more of them are required than where they are wide. Within the same species the cross-sectional area of the sapwood is very roughly proportional to the size of the crown of the tree. There is no definite relation between the annual rings of growth and the amount of sapwood.

Thin sapwood is characteristic of such trees as chestnut, black locust, mulberry, osage-orange, and sassafras, while in maple, ash, hickory, hackberry, beech, and pine, thick sapwood is the rule. Some species begin to form heartwood very early in life, so having only a thin layer of live sapwood, while in others the change comes slowly. This is shown by the fact that a tree can thrive with its heart completely decayed. Its name derives solely from its position and not from any vital importance to the tree.

This inert or dead portion is called heartwood. As a tree increases in age and diameter an inner portion of the sapwood becomes inactive and finally ceases to function, as the cells die. Sometimes trees grown in the open may become of considerable size, 30 cm or more in diameter, before any heartwood begins to form, for example, in second-growth hickory, or open-grown pines. Hence trees making rapid growth in the open have thicker sapwood for their size than trees of the same species growing in dense forests.

The more leaves a tree bears and the more vigorous its growth, the larger the volume of sapwood required. Its principal functions are to conduct water from the roots to the leaves and to store up and give back according to the season the food prepared in the leaves. All wood in a tree is first formed as sapwood. Sapwood is comparatively new wood, comprising living cells in the growing tree.

The color of fresh sapwood is always light, sometimes nearly white, but more often with a decided tinge of yellow or brown. In some instances this distinction in color is very marked; in others, the contrast is slight, so that it is not always easy to tell where one leaves off and the other begins. Examination of the end of a log of many species reveals a darker-colored inner portion, called the heartwood or duramen, surrounded by a lighter-colored zone called the sapwood. wall panelling, knots are considered a plus as they add visual texture to the wood, giving it a more interesting appearance.

For some purposes, e.g. Sound knots do not weaken wood when subject to compression parallel to the grain. The breaking strength is very susceptible to defects. The effect of knots is to reduce the difference between the fibre stress at elastic limit and the modulus of rupture of beams.

Stiffness and elastic strength are more dependent upon the quality of the wood fibre than upon defects in the beam. Only defects of the most serious character affect the elastic limit of beams. Knots do not necessarily influence the stiffness of structural timber. Sound knots which occur in the central portion one-fourth the height of the beam from either edge are not serious defects.

Knots which occur near the ends of a beam do not weaken it. Knots in a board or plank are least injurious when they extend through it at right angles to its broadest surface. Small knots, however, may be so located in a beam along the neutral plane as actually to increase the strength by tending to prevent longitudinal shearing. The knot, especially (as is often the case) if there is a season check in it, offers little resistance to this tensile stress.

A knot on the upper side is compressed, while one on the lower side is subjected to tension. The extent to which knots affect the strength of a beam depends upon their position, size, number, direction of fibre, and condition. The weakening effect is much more serious where timber is subjected to bending and tension than where under compression. They are defects which weaken timber and depreciate its value for structural purposes where strength is an important consideration.

Knots materially affect checking (cracking) and warping, ease in working, and cleavability of timber. In grading lumber and structural timber, knots are classified according to their form, size, soundness, and the firmness with which they are held in place. Hence dead branches produce knots which are nothing more than pegs in a hole, and likely to drop out after the tree has been sawn. Subsequent layers of growth of the stem are no longer intimately joined with the dead limb, but are laid around it.

During the development of a tree the lower limbs die, but may persist for a time--often for years. Note that a small knot may also be the result of a dormant bud. The fibre direction is at right angles or oblique to the grain of the stem, thus producing local cross grain. The included portion is irregularly conical in shape with the tip at the pith.

Branches generally originate at or near the pith (central axis) of a stem, and the living portion will increase in size through the addition of annual woody layers which are a continuation of those of the stem. Knots are portions of branches included in the wood of the stem or larger branch. In the diffuse-porous woods, the demarcation between rings is not always so clear and in some cases is almost (if not entirely) invisible to the unaided eye. In ring-porous woods each season's growth is always well defined, because the large pores of the spring abut on the denser tissue of the fall before.

In hard pines, on the other hand, the late wood is very dense and is deep-colored, presenting a very decided contrast to the soft, straw-colored early wood. In white pines there is not much contrast in the different parts of the ring, and as a result the wood is very uniform in texture and is easy to work. The outer portion is the late wood or summer wood, being produced in the summer. The inner portion is formed early in the season, when growth is comparatively rapid; it is known as early wood or spring wood.

The part nearest the centre of the tree is more open textured and almost invariably lighter in color than that near the outer portion of the ring. Within a growth ring it may be possible to see two more or less well-defined parts. Where there is no seasonal difference growth rings are likely to be absent. If these seasons are annual these growth rings are annual rings.

Where there are clear seasons, this can happen in a discrete pattern, leading to what is known as growth rings, as can be seen on the end of a log. A tree increases in diameter by the formation, between the old wood and the inner bark, of new woody layers which envelop the entire stem, living branches, and roots. Wood may be broken down and be made into chipboard, engineered wood, hardboard, medium-density fibreboard (MDF), oriented strand board (OSB), paper or used to make other synthetic substances. Construction wood is commonly known as timber in International English, and lumber in American English.

Wood has been an important construction material since humans began building shelters, and remains in plentiful use today. It is also used as a material, for making artworks, boats, buildings, furniture, ships, tools, weapons, etc. One of its primary uses is as fuel. Wood has been used by man for millennia for many purposes, being many things to many people.

. Dry wood is composed of fibers of cellulose (40%–50%) and hemicellulose (20%–30%) held together by lignin (25%–30%). Wood is a hygroscopic, cellular and anisotropic material. In its most common meaning, "wood" is the secondary xylem of a woody plant, but this an approximation only: in the wider sense, wood may refer to other materials and tissues with comparable properties.

Wood from the latter is only produced in small sizes, reducing the diversity of uses. Wood derives from woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs.