softwood

thumb|Scots pine, a typical and well-known softwood Softwood is wood from gymnosperm trees such as conifers. The term is opposed to hardwood, which is the wood from angiosperm trees. The main differences between hardwoods and softwoods is that the softwoods completely lack vessels (pores). The main softwood species (pines, spruces, larches, false tsugas) also have resin canals (or ducts) in their structure.

==Characteristics== thumb|Scanning electron microscope|SEM images showing the presence of pores in hardwoods ([[oak, top) and absence in softwoods (pine, bottom)]] Softwood is wood from gymnosperm trees such as pines and spruces. Softwoods are not necessarily softer than hardwoods. The hardest hardwoods are much harder than any softwood, but in both groups there is enormous variation with the range of wood hardness of the two groups overlapping. For example, balsa wood, which is a hardwood, is softer than most softwoods, whereas the longleaf pine, Douglas fir, and yew softwoods are much harder than several hardwoods.