Wood is a hard, fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers (which are strong in tension) embedded in a matrix of ligninwhich resists compression. Wood is sometimes defined as only the secondary xylem in the stems of trees,^[1] or it is defined more broadly to include the same type of tissue elsewhere such as in tree roots or in other plants such as shrubs.^{[citation needed]} In a living tree it performs a support function, enabling woody plants to grow large or to stand up for themselves. It also mediates the transfer of water and nutrients to the leaves and other growing tissues. Wood may also refer to other plant materials with comparable properties, and to material engineered from wood, or wood chips or fiber.

This is my favorite photo of a double knot hole in a mesquite tree in a park near my home in Palm Desert.