Since one and a half century are known in the frame of an actual wood research a lot of investigations on wood of the European‐domestic tree species Norway Spruce [Picea abies (L.) Karst.] and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), that are with regard to their occurrence and utilization the most important ones. With a monographic treatment of Norway spruce 20 years ago there could be compiled characteristic structural features of wood and bark. But for the most distributed tree species Common or Scots pine it does not happen anything like that. Thus selected references shall inform on the relevant knowledge of its wooden and cortical tissues which could be held in recent times among others by 15 Fellows of the International Academy of Wood Science (IAWS). (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)