As a rule, reaction wood is undesirable in any structural application, primarily as its mechanical properties are different from normal wood : it alters the uniform structural properties of timber.
12.
Progressive bending and cracking would occur in parts of the tree undergoing predominantly tensile or compressive stresses were it not for the localised production of reaction wood, which differs from ordinary wood in its mechanical properties.
13.
The formation of reaction wood may act in conjunction with other corrective or adaptive mechanisms in woody plants, such as thigomorphism ( adaptive response to flexure ) and gravitropism ( the correction of, rather than the support of, lean ) and the auxin-controlled balance of growth rates and growth direction between stems and branches.
14.
In 1926, he published " Wachsende H�user aus lebenden B�umen entstehend " ( Developing Houses from Living Trees ) in German, describing simple building techniques involving guided grafting together of live branches; including a system of v-shaped lateral cuts used to bend and curve individual trunks and branches in the direction of a design, with reaction wood soon closing the wounds to hold the curve.
