Plateau live oak, 11"L x 16"W x 9"H. No longer available.

This core was from a large live oak that died from oak wilt and was bulldozed in the 1970s. My brother-in-law found the large base of the tree with multiple attached roots in a large brush pile, where it was half buried in soil. After removing the rotting roots and main stem, I was left with this core whose intricately twisted shape reveals the circular growth rings of the main stem and several roots. The dark, almost black, areas adjacent to cracks and the holes left by insect grubs are the work of heart rot fungi that were gradually decomposing the hard, resistant wood of the core. Other interesting features of this core are the darker radial streaks emanating from the centers and passing outward through the growth rings of the main stem and roots. These radial streaks are wood rays (also called medullary rays and pith rays). They are bands of cells that allow radial movement of water and minerals across the sap wood as it moves upward in the roots and stems. Their radial traces remain after the sap wood matures into heart wood, and they are clearly visible in this core.