Forest Research - Glossary

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Cable crane: A method of extracting timber over rough and/or steep ground using a system of pulleys and line wires. The tractor, which provides the power for the system, remains on the forest road. See also Highlead and Skyline.
Cambium: Layer of living cells just under bark and at growing tips of shoots and roots, from which new growth develops.
Canker: Disease-damaged area of a tree usually caused by fungus or bacteria.
Canopy: The foliage and small branches of tall trees in a wood when these have interlaced to form continuous cover.
Catkin: Male or female flowers hanging in chains: they lack coloured petals because they are wind-pollinated flowers.
Check: Term used to describe trees growing very slowly or not at all. Usually caused by poor drainage or nutrient deficiency.
Chipwood: See Pulpwood.
Chlorophyll: Chemicals in the green parts of plants required for the formation of food. See Photosynthesis.
Cleaning: Removing unwanted tree and shrub growth.
Climax vegetation: Term used in connection with ecological succession, in this case the point when stable vegetation cover is reached, e.g. forest.
Clinometer: An instrument used for measuring slopes. Can be used from the ground to measure the heights of trees.
Clone: Identical series of plants arising from a single parent by artificial or natural vegetative propagation.
Compartment: A unit within the forest, demarcated (for administrative purposes) by permanent features e.g. roads and streams.
Compound: Term describing leaf that consists of several leaflets, e.g. ash leaf.
Cone scale: Woody structure arising from cone axis, enclosing developing seeds.
Conifer: Tree on which the seeds are borne in a cone.
Conversion: Cutting up of tree into desired lengths. The merchant who purchases the timber will usually dictate the lengths of timber they will need according to their market.
Conversion loss: The difference in volume between that of the standing tree and the volume of the products cut from it. Expressed as a percentage of the standing volume. Normal range 8 to 20 per cent.
Coppicing: Cutting of woody stem at ground level to encourage growth of several stems from one root system.
Copse: A very small, broad-leaved woodland originally derived from coppicing but now the term is used more widely.
Coupe: Area clear-felled within mature woodland and which will be regenerated.
Crown: Branches and upper part of the stem of tree.
Cultivar: Variations of a species arising in cultivation and propagated for some unusual characteristic, such as leaf colour or shape.
Current annual increment (C.A.I.): Volume increment of a stand in one year, or averaged over a short period of years, measured in cubic metres per hectare.

Glossary - C