Life Sciences Commons^™

Wood And Stem Anatomy Of Menispermaceae, Sherwin Carlquist

Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany

Qualitative and quantitative data are presented for 17 collections of 15 species representing 14 genera. One species is a shrub (Cocculus laurifolius), one a subshrub (C. trilobus), and the remainder are lianas. Successive cambia are analyzed with respect to ontogeny and histology of products. Whether any Menispermaceae may or may not plesiomorphically lack successive cambia would require a more extensive survey of the family. Apomorphic absence of successive cambia is likely for species with subshrub growth forms (Cocculus trilobus, Menispermum canadense L.). Lianoid Menispermaceae share the following features: successive cambia, wide vessels, wide rays, …