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Non-Random Vessel Distribution In Woods: Patterns, Modes, Diversity, Correlations, Sherwin Carlquist

Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany

Vessel grouping is a form of non-random distribution that becomes functionally valuable when the background consists of non-conductive imperforate tracheary elements (fiber-tracheids and libriform fibers); ungrouped vessels, randomly placed, often occur in an all-tracheid background. Types of vessel grouping are described and illustrated: diagonal, tangential, radial, median radial bands, and growth rings. Other non-random distributions considered include degrees and kinds of cable construction, patchy vessel distributions, vessel displacement related to succulence, and patterns involving successive cambia. Non-random vessel distributions inevitably involve non-random placement of imperforate tracheary elements, so that a parallel set of mechanical adaptations is often simultaneously achieved. Correlations …