Wikimedia commons coming to the reproductive description in botanical terms softwood trees are gymnosperms whereas hardwood trees are angiosperms the seeds of hardwood trees will have a shell or a fruit.
Is oak wood a hardwood or softwood.
But a hardwood is not necessarily a harder denser material than a softwood.
For example balsa wood is light and not very dense and is considered a hardwood.
Botanical difference between hardwood and softwood gymnosperms and angiosperms image.
If it has needles it s considered a softwood.
Simple answer is that it is a hardwood.
However that doesn t mean there s not a place for softwoods.
This happens to be generally true but there are exceptions such as in the cases of wood from yew trees a softwood that is relatively hard and wood from balsa trees a.
Classifying wood as either a hardwood or softwood comes down to its physical structure and makeup and so it is overly simple to think of hardwoods as being hard and durable compared to soft and workable softwoods.
Popular hardwoods are hickory ash oak maple and most fruit trees.
If a tree drops its leaves it s considered a hardwood.