growth ring

1. A growth layer in secondary xylem seen in a cross section of a woody stem or branch.

2. A layer of calcareous material or other substance deposited in a single period of growth of an animal, as in an otolith or a turtle scute.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

growth ring

(Botany) another name for annual ring

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

growth ring

A layer of wood formed in a plant during a single period of growth. Growth rings are visible as concentric circles of varying width when a tree is cut crosswise. They represent layers of cells produced by the tissue known as vascular cambium. ♦ Most growth rings reflect a full year's growth and are called annual rings. But abrupt changes in the environment, especially in the availability of water, can cause a plant to produce more than one growth ring in a year. See more at dendrochronology.

The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

growth ring - an annual formation of wood in plants as they grow

annual ring

organic phenomenon - (biology) a natural phenomenon involving living plants and animals

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References in periodicals archive

He indicated: 'Ghana holds a strategically-important position in the West Africa Growth Ring Corridor Development to enhance connectivity and promote economic activities in the sub-region,' and reaffirmed the importance of developing quality infrastructure.

Japan doles out $57m for Yamoransa-Kumasi road

It is also important to understand the life history of gastropods; the larval development strategy (i.e., free-swimming versus direct development) should be known as well as an estimate of when statolith growth might slow enough during the annual cycle for a growth ring to form.

TECHNIQUES FOR ESTIMATING THE AGE AND GROWTH OF MOLLUSCS: GASTROPODA

And rather than the tree laying down a growth ring under its bark each year, each xylem strand generated its own growth ring.

Welsh scientists examine mystery of ancient trees

And that represents a major growth ring in Le Cinema de Franco.

In Dubious Battle

Different trends were associated with growth ring counts and heights of the feedstock trees.

Forest management on mechanical properties of oriented strand board

The number of growth rings on the scales was checked with a stereoscopic microscope and an ocular micrometer to obtain the distance between center (focus or nucleus) and anterior margin of scale (radius, mm) and the distance from the center to growth ring (mm).

Age and growth parameters of the dourado Salminus brasiliensis (Cuvier, 1816) from the river Cuiaba, Mato Grosso State, Brazil/Idade e parametros de crescimento do dourado Salminus brasiliensis (Cuvier, 1816) no rio Cuiaba, Estado do Mato Grosso, Brasil

Toyota aims to be a company that grows sustainably, just as a tree steadily gains one growth ring per year.

Toyota Launches Employee Driving Project in Australia

SCUBA transects with video and laser measurements will be used to estimate cohort populations and sizes in the field, and collections will allow otolith analysis for daily growth ring assessment.

Distribution and growth estimates of young-of-the-year giant sea bass, Stereolep1s gigas, off southern California

Chene & Cie defines tight grain as less than an average of 3 mm per annual growth ring (spring wood + summer wood); larger than this is open grain.

Tools to manage elevage: barrel grain analyzed over time: types of oak grain, wine elevage in barrel

Samples of early wood for each growth ring along the diameter of the trees (pith-bark direction) were cut in order to perform the maceration and preparation of slides through the Jeffrey method, according to Burger and Richter (1991).

Sampling sufficiency of the anatomical characteristics of Brazilian hardwood using the resampling method/Suficiencia amostral das caracteristicas anatomicas da madeira usando o metodo de reamostragem

Like trees, seashells mark each year with a visible growth ring, so the timing of environmental changes can be known with very high precision.

Shelling out on the story of our seas; Uni leads PS3.1m climate change study

Few teased out the seasonal climate signal recorded in the narrow part of the growth ring laid down in late summer known as latewood.

Monsoon failure key to dry times in Southwest