Ecological Wood Adaptation and Horizontal Variations of Vessel Element and Fibre Length of Calligonum mongolicum

INTRODUCTION The larger genus in Polygonaceae is Calligonum, which includes about 100 species of shrubs that grow in central Asia. It is well suited to arid climates with drought resistance, and grows more on clay, sandy and gravel grounds. These plants are often cultivated as ornamentals and a stabilizer of mobile sand dunes. There was published information on the wood anatomy of all the examined genera in Polygonaceae (Ma 1994), but the selected species have not yet been described. Ad…

Ecological Wood Adaptation and Horizontal Variations of Vessel Element and Fibre Length of Calligonum mongolicum

s: Wood anatomy of Calligonum mongolicum Turcz. was describedfrom an ecological perspective. This species showed similar wood structure to that species published in the same genus. This species has distinct growth ring boundaries, ring-porosity, distinct helical thickenings, simple perforation plate, nonseptate fibre, axial parenchyma, uni-or 2-5-seriate heterogeneousrays, and alternate intervessel pitting. It was observed that there is a slightly increase of fibre length as the diameter from the pith increases. However, the vessel element length remains more or less constant from pith to bark. Furthermore, the relationships between anatomical features and adaptability to desert environments were discussed.