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WOOD ANATOMY OF TREMANDRACEAE: PHYLOGENETIC AND ECOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS
Author(s) -
Carlquist Sherwin
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
american journal of botany
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.218
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1537-2197
pISSN - 0002-9122
DOI - 10.1002/j.1537-2197.1977.tb11912.x
Subject(s) - tracheid , biology , parenchyma , perforation , genus , anatomy , botany , xylem , thickening , composite material , materials science , polymer science , punching
Stems of four species of the Australian family Tremandraceae furnished sufficient material for analysis of wood anatomy. Presence of simple perforation plates on vessel elements, occurrence of libriform fibers (some septate), tendency toward vasicentric parenchyma, presence of crystalliferous axial parenchyma strands, presence of crystals singly in ray cells, and occurrence of amorphous deposits in parenchyma are all features in which Tremandraceae resemble Pittosporaceae. Wood anatomy tends to support a “rosoid” rather than a sapindalean, rutalean, or polygalalean affinity for Tremandraceae, although wood is only a preliminary indicator. By the use of numerical indices as well as such indicators as helical thickening and presence of vascular tracheids, wood of Tremandraceae is shown to be highly xeromorphic. The genus Tremandra may represent a secondary entrant into wet forests of southwestern Australia; it clearly is not relict from mesic ancestry.