heartwood
hor twood
- n the older inactive central wood of a tree or woody plant; usually darker and denser than the surrounding sapwood
- A thin, spidery crack traces through the heartwood, then out through 80 or 90 years of growth rings to the ridged, slightly greenish bark.
- After all, the tree has been growing through the centuries just for this moment and this royal purposeto enclose in its sun-yellowed heartwood the body of its predestined King.