Glossary term
What is Cambium?
Short answer
Cambium is the thin layer of living cells just under the bark that makes new wood inward and new bark outward each year.
Cambium, explained for tree service owners
The cambium is a very thin layer of living cells between the bark and the wood. Each growing season it adds a new ring of wood on the inside and a thin layer of bark on the outside, which is how a trunk gets wider. Because it sits so close to the surface, it is easy to hurt. Mower damage, a rope or wire left around the trunk, or a cut through the bark can kill the cambium in that spot. For a tree service owner, this is why careful work near the bark matters, and why you should explain to homeowners that scraping a trunk with equipment can harm the tree for years.
Related terms
- Sapwood
Sapwood is the younger, outer wood of a trunk that carries water from the roots up to the leaves.
- Buttress roots
Buttress roots are wide, thick roots at the base of a trunk that help hold a tree upright.
- Canopy
Canopy is the layer of branches and leaves formed by the crowns of a tree or of many trees together.
- Conifer
A conifer is a tree that makes seeds in cones and usually has needles or scale-like leaves.
- Crown
Crown is the upper part of a tree made of branches, twigs and leaves, growing from the trunk.
- Evergreen tree
An evergreen tree is a tree that keeps green leaves or needles all year and replaces them gradually.
- Excurrent form
Excurrent form is a tree shape with one strong central trunk and side branches, like a pine or spruce.
- Girdling root
A girdling root is a root that circles the trunk or another root and slowly squeezes it.
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