Ray Traits of Juvenile Wood and Mature Wood: Pinus massonia and Cunninghamia lanceolata

Ray traits affect secondary xylem development and wood properties. Pinus massonia and Cunninghamia lanceolata, commercially important timber species, were chosen to study the differences in wood ray traits of juvenile versus mature wood. Seven ray traits, i.e., percentage of rays, ray spacing, ray number, uniseriate ray height, fusiform ray height, ray parenchyma cell length and ray tracheid length, as well as eight wood axial tissue traits, were investigated quantitatively. Intraspecific variations in ray traits and axial tissue traits between juvenile wood and mature wood were displayed in violin plots. The results showed that anatomical differences between juvenile wood and mature wood were significant for both ray traits and axial tissue traits. Juvenile wood generally possessed the larger percentage of rays, higher ray spacing and ray number, smaller ray height and shorter ray cells than mature wood. A positive correlation was present between the ray parenchyma cell length and ray tracheid length. Negative correlations of the ray number and ray spacing with uniseriate ray height were found. Additionally, the axial tracheid cell wall thickness all had Pearson’s correlations with ray spacing, ray number and ray parenchyma cell length.

A Proposal for a New Indicator for Expressing the Metabolic Activity of Living Sapwood Ray Parenchyma Cells

A more reliable indicator for expressing the metabolic activity of a living sapwood ray parenchyma cell is proposed and is compared with the old nuclear slenderness ratio (NSR) indicator. NSR is defined as the length of the nucleus divided by the width of the nucleus. The new indicator, the nuclear elongation index (NEI), is defined as the length of the nucleus divided by the length of the ray parenchyma cell multiplied by 100. The validity of the NEI and difference of the use of the NSR and NEI are compared and evaluated.

Anatomical changes in the secondary phloem of grand fir (Abies grandis) induced by the balsam woolly aphid (Adelges piceae)

This study examines the microscopic anatomy and seasonal changes of the secondary phloem, cambium, and a portion of the xylem of grand fir trees (Abies grandis [Dougl.] Lindl.) infested with the balsam woolly aphid (Adelges piceae Ratz.) as compared with tissues of non-infested trees.The reactivation of the vascular cambium and production of astrosclereids and resin cells are about the same in infested and non-infested trees.The infested trees exhibit sieve cells that are shorter in length, having a tangential dimension about the same as normal cells, and produce more tangential bands of phloem parenchyma cells, more fiber sclereids, biseriate rays, and lipoidal-filled ray cells, abnormally shaped ray parenchyma cell nuclei, giant cortical parenchyma cells, and traumatic resin ducts in the xylem.