Carbon Dioxide and the Formation of Heartwood

Summary The state of knowledge of the transition of sapwood into heartwood in trees is reviewed, and attention is drawn to the composition of the gas mixture available to such cells as remain alive in wood. The probable effect of such a mixture is postulated and experiments indicate that the high concentrations of carbon dioxide known to exist inside wood are conducive to formation of compounds known to be typical of the heartwood of Acacia mearnsii.