While I agree with some of Woodsrunner38's views, the assertion that fiddleback is the result of sugars produced by photosynthesis moving through the storied ray cells didn't make sense to me. Consider, that in a group of trees growing in the same soil under the same conditions, even trees grown from seeds of the same parent tree, only one may exhibit fiddleback grain while its' neighbors (siblings) do not. All would undergo photosynthesis and transport the resulting sugars through the tree. Basic explanations for one tree having fiddleback while the other trees don't center on a recessive genetic trait being expressed... kind of like a very large family where only one kid has curly hair. Here's a summary of an article on the subject from Wood Science and Technology, vol. 13, no. 2 by Z. Hejnowicz and J. A. Romberger that's a tad more technical: "Various types of wavy grain, the striped figures on radial surfaces of wood with interlocked grain, and even moire' or checkered figures, are all interpreted as resulting from systematically changing orientation of cambial cells. Such changing orientations are manifestations of morphogenic wave phenomena that affect the orientation (rightward or leftward) of anticlinal and pseudotransverse divisions of fusiform initial cells and of subsequent intrusive growth. The accumulated effects of such nonrandomly oriented events determine local grain inclination. Morphogenic waves move slowly along the cambium, about one wavelength in 10 to 15 years. Grain waves and other figures in wood are automatic, permanant recordings of the existance and movements of morphogenic waves in the cambium. These may be several orders removed from more fundamental and more rapidly moving phenomena associated with timing and spacing in tree development." Well. My big goal for tonight was to start a thread asking if anyone here knew what kind of sidebyside Dick Cheney was using when he had the accident while quail hunting with his lawyer friend. I squinted real hard, but couldn't make it out in the news photos.
