Anatomical Changes on Charring Six African Hardwoods

IAWA Journal ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliet Prior ◽  
Peter Gasson

Charcoal often retains sufficient qualitative anatomical features for the family and genus of the wood to be identified. During the charring process however, considerable and sometimes unexpected changes in quantitative characters occur, which are of particular importance to species identification and ecological wood anatomy. Comparative measurements were made using charred and uncharred trunkwood from six common southern African savanna trees. SampIes were charred for 30 minutes at either 400 or 700°C. Charcoal yield and significant quantitative changes in vessel diameter and ray cells are related both to wood anatomy and to the process of combustion. Differences observed on charring were most closely correlated with the nature and quantity of the fibres. Axial parenchyma cells expanded after charring at both temperatures.

1983 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 161
Author(s):  
José Newton Cardoso Marchiori

This paper deals with the description of general, macroscopic and microscopic anatomy of Colletia paradoxa (Spreng.) Escalante, an aphyllous and xerophilous shrub from Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil). Pores of very small diameter, very short vessel elements, spiral thickenings and simple perforation plates in vessels, non sptate libriform fibers, scanty paratracheal axial paranchyma, and Heterogeneous II rays were observed in the wood.. Perforated cells are also common in rays. The presence of perforated ray cells and anatomical features of the vessel elements are discussed with respect to eco-physiological aspect of the plant and wood anatomy literature.


1962 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 25 ◽  
Author(s):  
RK Bamber

The anatomy of the barks of 61 species of the tribe Leptospermoideae of the family Myrtaceae, principally from Australia, has been studied. The following anatomical features in particular have been described: type and arrangement of sclerenchyma, type and distribution of crystals, silica, oil glands, sieve tube type, fibre dimensions, periderm, and rhytidome. A key for the identification of the species and/or groups of species described has been derived from the bark anatomy. The bark anatomy would appear to be superior to the wood anatomy for the separation of the species of the tribe. The relationship between the bark anatomy and the taxonomy of the tribe is discussed. Support for the separation of Choricarpia subargentea and C. leptopetala from both Syncarpia and Tristania is given. Tristania neriifolia appears to be distinctly different from other Tristania spp. and re-examination of the species is suggested. Samples of Metrosideros sp. from Indonesia have been found to have the characteristics of Xanthostemon and re-examination of the genus of this species is also suggested. Oil glands have been found to be restricted to the genera Eucalyptus, Syncarpia, and Xanthostemon. Resorption of crystals has been found in the outer phloem of a number of species. Casparian thickening of the cell walls of the suberized phellem in Callistemon and Melaleuca has been confirmed.


1989 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
pp. 872-878 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joëlle Coulaud

Seventy-three samples of wood, belonging to 11 genera of Loganiaceae and 2 genera of Rubiaceae are described. Fourteen quantitative characters are first studied by a discriminant multivariate analysis, and then all the characters are examined. The characters of wood anatomy show the unity as well as the subdivisions of the family Loganiaceae. The two genera Antonia and Bonyunia belong to an homogenous and individualized group. Potalia, Anthocleista, and Fagraea are also related and are opposite to Strychnos. Neuburgia is not near Strychnos, though it belongs to the same tribe. A new relation is discovered between Nuxia and Geniostoma, and the special feature of Buddlejeae (Nuxia, Buddleja) does not come into sight; these genera are also related to Strychnos and Peltanthera. The genera Gaertnera and Genipa can scarcely be distinguished from the family by a few qualitative characters. The necessity of standardization in the observations, in order to integrate wood characters in systematic studies, is noted.


IAWA Journal ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhang Xinying ◽  
Pieter Baas ◽  
Alberta M. W. Mennega

The wood anatomy of Bhesa sinica (Chang ' Liang) Chang ' Liang, the only species of the genus occurring in China, is described in detail and compared with other Celastraceae. Bhesa sinica closely resembles other species of the genus, in e. g. vessels mainly in radial multiples, exclusively scalariform perforations, large and (almost) simple vessel-ray pits; parenchyma in fine irregular bands, in long (over 8-celled) strands; thick-walled, non septate libriform fibres; 1-5-seriate heterocellular rays, and prismatic crystals in chambered axial and ray parenchyma cells. This combination of characters is not known to occur in any of the other genera of the Celastraceae, and most individual wood anatomical character states of Bhesa are also unusual within the family. The isolated position of the genus in the Celastraceae is discussed.


Paleobiology ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 487-498 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabeth A. Wheeler ◽  
Pieter Baas

The incidences of selected features of dicotyledonous wood that are believed to be of ecologic and/or phylogenetic significance (distinct growth rings, narrow and wide vessel diameter, high and low vessel frequencies, scalariform perforations, tangential vessel arrangement, ring porosity, and helical wall thickenings) were plotted through time (Cretaceous–Recent). There are marked differences between the Cretaceous and Tertiary in the frequency of all wood anatomical features. Incidences of features that are associated with markedly seasonal climates in extant floras do not approach modern levels until the Neogene. Correlations of wood anatomical features with ecology do not appear to have been constant through time, because in the Cretaceous different features provide conflicting information about the climate. Throughout the Tertiary the southern hemisphere/tropical and the northern hemisphere/temperate regions differed in the incidences of ecologically significant features and these differences are similar to those in the Recent flora. Possibilities for reliably using dicotyledonous wood for climatic reconstructions appear restricted to the Tertiary and Quaternary. However, at present the fossil wood record for most epochs and regions is too limited to permit detailed reconstructions of their past climate.


Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 1147
Author(s):  
Paloma de Palacios ◽  
Luis G. Esteban ◽  
Peter Gasson ◽  
Francisco García-Fernández ◽  
Antonio de Marco ◽  
...  

Wood anatomy is a key discipline as a tool for monitoring the global timber trade, particularly for wood listed in protected species conventions such as Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES). One of the main barriers to reducing illegal trafficking of protected species is ensuring that customs officials with appropriate training in wood anatomy are equipped with simple tools, at both the origin and destination of shipments, so they can raise an early warning about wood suspected of contravening international treaties and immediately send samples to a specialised laboratory. This work explains how lenses attached to a smartphone, capable of achieving up to 400× magnification using the phone digital zoom, can be used to distinguish features that are not visible with traditional 10× or 12× lenses, enhancing the capacity to view features not typically observable in the field. In softwoods, for example, this method permits determination of the type of axial parenchyma arrangement, whether there are helical thickenings in axial tracheids and whether axial tracheids have organic deposits or contain alternate polygonal pits, and in the rays, if the tracheids are smooth-walled or dentate and if the cross-field pits are window-like. In hardwoods, it allows verification of the presence of tyloses and deposits in vessels, the type of perforation plates and whether the intervascular pitting is scalariform; in the rays it is possible to differentiate the types of ray cells; and in the axial parenchyma, to determine the presence of oil cells. In addition, unlike macroscopic analysis with a conventional magnifying lens, this type of lens can be used with the appropriate mobile application for the biometry of important elements such as ray height and vessel diameter.


IAWA Journal ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 412-432
Author(s):  
Caian Souza Gerolamo ◽  
Veronica Angyalossy

This work compares potential xylem hydraulic efficiency among Bignoniaceae lianas, shrubs and trees. Five species from each growth habit were analysed to determine variance among habits based on quantitative and qualitative wood anatomical features. Potential hydraulic conductivity was calculated for each species in order to compare efficiency of water transport. Cambial variants are present in the Bignonieae tribe, as phloem wedges in lianas and phloem arcs in shrubs. Lianas present vessel dimorphism, quantitatively evidenced by the ratio of maximum by minimum vessel diameter of about 20, higher percentage of vessel area and lower percentage of fibres compared with the self-supporting species studied here. Potential hydraulic conductivity is higher in lianas due to the presence of wider vessels and it is hypothesised that the narrow vessels can function as back-up for water conduction when wider vessels are cavitated.


IAWA Journal ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 313-323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriel U.C.A. Santos ◽  
Cátia H. Callado ◽  
Marcelo da Costa Souza ◽  
Cecilia G. Costa

Myrciaria, Neomitranthes, Plinia and Siphoneugena are closely related genera whose circumscriptions are controversial. The distinctions between Myrciaria vs. Plinia, and Neomitranthes vs. Siphoneugena, have been based on a few fruit characters. The wood anatomy of 24 species of these genera was examined to determine if wood anatomical features could help delimit the genera. It was determined the four genera cannot reliably be separated by wood anatomy alone. Characteristics seen in all four genera are: growth rings usually poorly-defined; diffuse porous; exclusively solitary vessels, usually circular to oval in outline; simple perforation plates; vessel-ray pits alternate and distinctly bordered; fibers with distinctly bordered pits in radial and tangential walls, usually very thickwalled; vasicentric tracheids typically absent; scanty paratracheal parenchyma, sometimes unilateral, and diffuse to diffuse-in-aggregates; chambered crystalliferous axial parenchyma in many species, usually both prismatic and smaller crystals; rays 1–4-seriate, uniseriate rays composed of upright/square cells, multiseriate rays with procumbent body cells and 1 to many marginal rows of upright/square cells; disjunctive ray parenchyma cells usually present.


IAWA Journal ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabeth A. Wheeler ◽  
Pieter Baas

Data on fossil dicotyledonous wood were assembled in order to 1) test the Baileyan model for trends of specialisation in dicotyledonous wood anatomy by addressing the question - were 'primitive' wood anatomieal features (as defined by the Baileyan model) more common in the geologie past than at present?, 2) infer, on a broad geographie scale, past climatie regimes, and long term climatic change, and 3) assess the extent of knowledge of fossil dicotyledonous woods. The resulting database has information on 91 anatomieal features for over 1200 fossil dicotyledonous woods. The incidence of selected anatomical features was plotted through time (by geologie epoch) for the world and for two regional groupings (roughly corresponding to the Laurasian and Gondwanan supercontinents). For comparison to the fossil wood record, the incidence of wood anatomie al features in the Recent flora was obtained from the 5260 record OPCN database for extant dicotyledonous woods.


IAWA Journal ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 349-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pieter Baas ◽  
Sherwin Carlquist

A comparison is made between ecological trends in wood anatomy found in southern California and Israel and adjacent regions. Trends for type of vessel perforation, vessel member length and the occurrence of helical thickenings show striking parallels. Characters like vessel diameter and frequency and incidence of (fibre-)tracheids show only weakly similar trends. Vessel grouping and ring-porosity do not show any parallel in the data for southern California and Israel. The differences between the two floras can largely be attributed to different floristic composition and the alternative possibilities for safe and efficient xylem sap transport and drought resistance in different taxa.


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