GROWTH RING Definition & Meaning

growth ring

growth ring

growth ring

A layer of wood formed in a plant during a single period of growth. Growth rings are visible as concentric circles of varying width when a tree is cut crosswise. They represent layers of cells produced by vascular cambium.
◆ Most growth rings reflect a full year's growth and are called annual rings. But abrupt changes in the environment, especially in the availability of water, can cause a plant to produce more than one growth ring in a year.
See more at dendrochronology
A similar layer in a part of an animal marking a period of growth, such as an annulus in a fish scale.

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First recorded in 1905–10

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Examples have not been reviewed.

They compare this century’s drought and other megadroughts using ancient records captured in the growth rings of trees.

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Dendrochronology uses characteristic patterns of broad and narrow annual growth rings in wood, which are influenced by climatic conditions.

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A common way to tell the age of a tree is by counting the growth rings in its trunk.

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That’s because these trees often lack regular growth rings, he said.

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His inspiration for “Union” was sparked by examining the concentric growth rings of a fallen Western red cedar in Seattle’s Discovery Park.

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