Afforestation

To establish a forest by artificial means on an area from which forest vegetation has always or long been absent

Arboretum

A place for cultivating and displaying a variety of indigenous and glotholum

Basal area

The area of the cross-section of a stem at breast height.

Bench terraces

Level or slightly sloping platforms constructed for soil conservation along the contours of a slope, separated from one another by a much steeper slope, and with a bank, usually covered with a vegetation, on their outer edges

Breast Height

Almost universally adopted as the standard height for measuring girth, diameter and basal area of standing trees. In some countries including Nepal, it is taken as 1.37 meters while some others take it as 1.30 meters.

Coppice

A shoot arising from an adventitious bud at the base of a woody plant that has been cut near the ground or burnt back

Damping off

The killing of young seedlings by certain fungi that cause decay of the stem, or roots

Elite Tree

A tree selected for seed collection or for vegetative propagation on account of some specially good quality it may possess, such as exceptional rate of growth, fine form, or timber quality, and resistance to adverse climatic factors and to diseases and pests.

Enumeration

The counting, singly or together, of individuals of one or more species in a forest crop and their classification by species, size, condition, etc.

Epicormic Branch

Branches originating in clusters from a dormant or adventitious buds on the trunk of a tree or on an older branch, when exposed to some adverse influence, such as excessive light, fire and suppression

Form Factor

The ratio of the volume of a tree or its parts to the product of its basal area and height

Germinative Capacity

The percentage, by number, of seeds in a given sample that actually germinate

Growing Stock

The sum (by number or volume) of all the trees growing in the forest

Growth Ring

A layer of wood produced in one growing season. In climates with alternations of seasons favourable and unfavourable to growth, such layers are correctly referred to as annual rings, and provide a reliable index to the age of the trees. This in not the case in some tropical regions where many species show no or incomplete growth rings.

Hardening Off

Preparing seedlings in a nursery for planting out by gradually reducing watering, shade, and/or shelter resulting in a hardening of the plant

Heartwood

The inner layers of wood, which in the growing tree, have ceased to contain living cells. It is generally darker in colour then sapwood, though not always clearly differentiated form it

Hypsometer

An instrument for determining the height of standing trees from observations taken at some distance from the tree

Improvement Felling

A method of treatment involving the removal of inferior growing stock and tending the better elements of the crop, usually in an irregular forest

Loam

A soil composed of sand, silt and clay in such proportions that the properties of the soil are not dominated by any one of them

Logging

Operation comprising felling of trees, limbng, bucking and transportation of the resulting product out of the forest timber harvesting

Merchantable

Those portions of a tree which can be marketed under given economic conditions

Mulch

Plant residues and other materials used as a covering for the soil to conserve moisture, reduce run-off and erosion. check weed frowth, protect from winter climate or improve the soil, Mulching materials are usually cut grass, foliage or straw, but may include compost, woodchips, saw-dust, paper, sand, stones, etc

Overgrazing

Grazing so heavily as to impair future forage production and cause range deterioration by damaging the plants or soil or both

Provenance

The geographical source or place of origin from which a given lot of seed or plants was collected; the material from such a source or origin; often restricted to imply material from a specified race

Pruning

To remove live or dead branches or multiple leaders from standing trees for the improvement of the tree or its timber

Pulp

The crude fibre material of one kind or another, produced either mechanically or chemically from fibrous cellulosic raw material from which, after suitable treatment, paper, paper-board, rayon, plastics, etc., are made

Pulpwood

Wood cut or prepared primarily for manufacture into wood pulp

Quarter-Growth Measurement

A method of finding the cubical contents of a round log, on the assumption that the sectional area of the log is equal to the square of a quarter of the girth

Regeneration

The renewal of a forest crop by natural or artifical means; also the new crop so obtained.

Regular Forest

A forest composed of even-aged woods

Resin

Any of a class of amorphous substanves exuded by plant. The resin occurs dissolved in volatile oils,and is exuded in a liquid state; it turns solid subsequently due to evaporation of volatile oil

Rhizome

A stem of rootlike appearance,lying on or under the ground,which roots and sends up shoots. Syn. Root-stock

Rhizome

A stem of rootlike appearance,lying on or under the ground,which roots and sends up shoots

Rosin

The solid residue obtained after distilling off the turpentine from the oleresin of various species of pinus

Sapling

A young tree from the time when it reaches 3 feet in height till the lower branches begin to fall

Sapwood

The outer woody layers of the stem or log which, in the growing tree, contain living cells. The sapood is generally lighter in colour than the heartwood

Scrub

Inferior growth consisting chiefly of small or stunted trees and shrubs

Seed Year

A year in which a given species bears seed abundantly

Seedling Year

One in which a given species produces adundant first-year seedlings

Shade bearer

A species capable of persisting and developing under shade.

Shade Demander

A species requiring at least in its early stages some degree of shade for its normal development

Shelterbelt

A belt of trees and/or shrubs maintained for the purpose of shelter from wind, sun, snow-drift, etc.

Shifting Cultivation

A method of cyclical cultivation where cultivators cut the tree crop, burn it, and raise field crops for one or more years before moving on to another site and repeating the process.

Silvics

The study of the life history and general characteristics of forest trees and crops

Silviculture

The art and science of cultivating forest crops

Slash

The unusable residue after logging, viz., branches, tops, bark, unutilizable logs, uprooted stumps and broken or uprooted trees left on the area

Soil Horizons

The layers into which a soil profile is divisible by simple field examination

Soil Profile

The appearance of a soil in vertical section with particular reference to the sequence of layers that may be differentiated

Soil Structure

The arrangement of the individual soil particles into aggregates of definite size and shape

Soil Texture

The relative proportion of the various size groups of individual soil particles.

Stereoscope

A binocular optical instrument for assisting the observer to view two properly oriented photographs or diagrams to obtain the mental impression of a three-dimensional model

Stump

The base of a tree and its roots left in the ground after felling

Succession

The gradual replacement of one community by another in the development of vegetation towards a climax; succession is "primary" on site which have previously not borne vegetation and "secondary" after destruction of whole or part of original vegetation

Suppressed Tree

Trees only 1/2 to 5/8 of the height of the best trees, with their leading shoots definitely overtopped by their neighbours or at least shaded on all side by them

Taungya

Burmese; taung=hill; Ya=Cultivation. The method of raising forest plantations in combination with field crops.

Thinning

A felling made in an immature stand for the purpose of improving the growth and form of the trees that remain, without permanently breaking the canopy

Transect

A line, belt, strip or profile, as of vegetation, chosen for study and charting

Tundra

The zone of low vegetation in an arctic climate between the limit of the tree zone and perpetual ice or snow; mountain or alpine tundra is the term sometime used for the corresponding zone on high mountains

Undergrowth

The lowest stratum of woody and other vegetation above the ground cover

Understorey

The lower storey of a forest crop, e.g., a young crop under seedbearers, coppice under standards, or the lower storeys in a multi-storeyed high forest

Unevenaged

Tree stands in which individual stems vary widely in age, the range of difference being usually more than 20 years and, in the case of long rotation crops, more than 25 per cent of the rotation

Veneer

A thin sheet of wood produced by slicing, rotary cutting or sawing. Veneer is the raw material from which plywood and laminated wood are assembled. Thickness ranges from 0.25mm to 6mm

Viability

The potential capacity of a seed to germinate

Volume Table

A table showing for a given species the average volume of trees, logs or sawn timber for one more given dimension

Warp

Distortion in converted timber causing departure from a true or plane surface, usually developed during seasoning

Weed

Any unwanted plant that interferes or tends to interfere with the growth of individuals of favoured species

Weeding

A tending operation done in the seedling stage in a nursery or in a forest crop that involves the removal or cutting back of all weeds

White Rot

Decay by fungi that attack all chief constituents of wood, including both cellulose and lignin, and leave a whitish or light-coloured residue frequently fibrous or spongy in texture, and some times with prominent exposed fibres of cellulose.

Wilt Disease

A plant disease in which the drooping of foliage is the most conspicuous symptom

Winch

A device for hauling or lifting logs by means of a wire rope wound around a horizontal drum. Operated by hand or power

Wind Throw

tree or trees uprooted by wind

Windbreak

A narrow shelterbelt or other obstacle maintained against the wind

Witches Broom

An abnormal bushy growth of parts of the branch system on trees or shrubs, markedly different from that of the normal plant and characterized by the shortening of the internodes and excessive proliferation, generally pathogenic in origin

Yarding

The operation of moving timber from stamp to a collecting point.

Yearling

A one-year old seedling

Yield

The volume or number of stems that can be removed annually or periodically consistent with the attainment of the objects of management.

Yield Table

A table which summarizes all the essential data relating to the development of a fully-stocked and regularly thinned even-aged crop at periodic intervals