New Zealand Journal of Botany abstracts

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Wood anatomy of the dicotyledons indigenous to New Zealand 15. Fagaceae

RAJNI N. PATEL

Botany Division, DSIR
Private Bag, Christchurch, New Zealand

Abstract The wood anatomy of Nothofagus menziesii (Hook, f.) Oerst., N. fusca (Hook, f.) Oerst., N. truncata (Col.) Ckn., N. solandri (Hook, f.) Oerst. var. solandri, and N. solandri var. cliffortioides (Hook, f.) Poole, is described. The wood is diffuse-porous to semi-ring-porous with distinct growth-rings. Vessels are solitary and in multiples, mainly of the radial type. Perforation plates are simple but some scalariform and reti- culate plates also occur. Intervessel pits are alter- nate, opposite, and scalariform. Minute projections from cell wall into lumen are sometimes present in the tips of vessel elements. Vessel-ray pits are usually confined to ray margins and are round, oval, and radially elongated with or without border. Axial parenchyma is scarce and mostly confined to growth-ring boundaries. Polygonal crystals are occasionally present in axial parenchyma. Rays are heterogeneous and 1-2(3) cells wide. Fibres are sometimes septate. Tracheids are present in late- wood. The presence of silica grains in the rays readily separates N. truncata and the two varieties of N. solandri from N. menziesii and N. fusca. Further separation using growth-ring and ray characteris- tics is discussed.

Keywords Fagaceae; Nothofagus menziesii; sil- ver beech; Nothofagus fusca; red beech; Nothofagus truncata; hard beech; Nothofagus solandri var. solandri; black beech; Nothofagus solandri var. clif- fortioides; mountain beech; wood anatomy; New Zealand

Received 29 October 1985; accepted 10 December 1985
New Zealand Journal of Botany, 1986, Vol. 24: 189-202
0028-825X/86/2402-0189$2.50/0 © Crown copyright 1986

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