How to tell the raidial section of wood from the tangetial section simply by looking at a photo?

Answer 1

Just get the picture taken with no angle and simple look at it afterwards.

Answer 2

You are looking for the differences between a Radial Longitudinal Section and a Tangential Longitudinal Section. Right? ( Kindly check spellings before posting a question/answer.)

The medullary rays that extend from the center to the periphery are cut transversely in a R.L.S.and appear as circles placed one above the other at regular intervals. This is not seen in T.L.S.

The xylem elements that run vertically in a stem are cut lengthwise in T.L.S. and therefore the different types of thickenings such as spiral, annular and scalariform are seen in T.L.S. That feature is absent in R.L.S.

That is how one can distinguish between the two types of sections.



Edit:- My thanks are due to 'Myrtguy' for providing good web sites for the photos.Thank you!

Answer 3

maverick pretty much nailed it ... RLS of rays is quite a different view (rays appear linear or lens shaped) than TLS (where they are cut longitudinally). The link site shows this well.