Duramen

Duramen, or HEART-WOOD, in Botany, the inner and fully ripened wood of dicotyledonous trees. The division is often very marked between the duramen and the Alburnum (q.v.), or sap-wood, the former being more dense and compact, and also frequently of a darker colour, as most notably in ebony. As timber it is much more valuable and durable than the alburnum; hence this distinction is as well known to the carpenter or cabinetmaker as to the botanist. See TIMBER, WOOD.