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Wood Anatomy Of Gnetales In A Functional, Ecological, And Evolutionary Context, Sherwin Carlquist
Wood Anatomy Of Gnetales In A Functional, Ecological, And Evolutionary Context, Sherwin Carlquist
Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany
New scanning electron microscope (SEM) and light microscope data and illustrations are presented in order to compare hydraulic adaptations of non-gnetalean conifers and angiosperms to relevant wood features of Gnetales. Gnetales have essentially all of the adaptations of both groups, yet have not competed well, despite predating angiosperms in origin and radiation. Angiosperms may be advantaged more by life cycle abbreviation and by heterochronic possibilities than by wood features. Wood features of Gnetales that relate to conduction (torus-margo differentiation of tracheid pit membranes, distribution of tori within the wood, perforation plate simplification, growth rings, vesturing, helical thickenings, and axial parenchyma) …