“I was thinking of a clean transverse section of a ring-porous species (oak would be ideal in the Irish context), with the cambium zone and a few annual xylem rings visible, along with phloem and periderm - and ideally showing the sapwood/heartwood transition if the section is wide enough. If possible, longitudinal sections (tangential, radial) supporting the cross-section view would be great, along with a 3D block diagram of a bark/wood section - ideally a segment with part removed to expose the radial face, so that the transverse, radial, and tangential planes are all visible in context. For the board, the images would need to be high resolution.
If you also had a comparable cross-section of a diffuse-porous species (birch for example, to stick with Ireland's native species), that would be very useful - one of the things I'd like to explain is why annual rings are clearly visible in some species but not others.
As this is still at the project stage and hasn't been confirmed yet, I'd prefer to keep things low-key for now. I'd of course credit all images appropriately. At the same time, when I do submit it for approval, I'd prefer to present something complete rather than a rough outline.
If you have a gallery of images that might suit this purpose, I'd really appreciate any support. I thought that showing people the internal, rich structure of a tree could reveal a hidden, more dynamic side of a plant that is otherwise regarded by many as something very static.”
Lloyd Donaldson, New Zealand
