Katri Luostarinen

Tracheid wall thickness and lumen diameter in different axial and radial locations in cultivated Larix sibirica trunks

Luostarinen K. (2012). Tracheid wall thickness and lumen diameter in different axial and radial locations in cultivated Larix sibirica trunks. Silva Fennica vol. 46 no. 5 article id 921. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.921

Abstract

In Larix trunks the properties of wood differ clearly radially, but the axial differences are smaller as well as being less studied. Wood anatomy is in particular poorly studied, even though all other wood properties derive from cell and tissue structure. The aim of this study was to chart variation in tracheid size (double wall thickness (2CWT), diameter of lumen (RD)) within fast grown cultivated Siberian larch (Larix sibirica Ledeb.) trunks. The differences in 2CWT and RD were clear between earlywood (EW) and latewood (LW), 2CWT increasing clearly less in EW than in LW towards the bark, while RD stayed quite stable in LW but in EW increased markedly towards the bark. The difference in 2CWT between EW and LW increased towards the upper trunk. In conclusion, the radial variation in RD and 2CWT was different between the butt and other studied heights. As the difference in 2CWT between EW and LW was smaller at the butt than the upper portion of the trunk, the wood was the most homogenous at the butt.

Keywords
wood; earlywood; latewood; fibre; Siberian larch; xylem

Received 15 August 2012 Accepted 15 November 2012 Published 31 December 2012

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Available at https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.921 | Download PDF