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AOBPreview originally published online on March 10, 2005
Annals of Botany 2005 95(6):959-965; doi:10.1093/aob/mci112
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© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oupjournals.org

Differentiation of Terminal Latewood Tracheids in Silver Fir Trees During Autumn

JOZICA GRICAR1, KATARINA CUFAR1,*, PRIMOZ OVEN1 and UWE SCHMITT2

1 University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty, Department of Wood Science and Technology, Rozna dolina, Cesta VIII/34, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia and 2 Federal Research Centre for Forestry and Forest Products and University of Hamburg, Leuschnerstr. 91, D-21031 Hamburg, Germany

* For correspondence. E-mail katarina.cufar{at}bf.uni-lj.si

Received: 20 October 2004    Returned for revision: 7 January 2005    Accepted: 24 January 2005    Published electronically: 10 March 2005

• Background and Aims The differentiation of terminal latewood tracheids of silver fir (Abies alba) trees grown in Slovenia was investigated in autumn/winter 2001/2002.

• Methods The experimental trees were divided into three groups: one with narrow annual rings, width less than 1 mm; one with annual ring widths between 1 and 4 mm; and one group with broad rings larger than 4 mm. The differentiation of terminal latewood tracheids was investigated by light-, electron- and UV-microscopy in tissues sampled in October and November 2001 and March 2002.

• Key Results In the middle of October, cambial divisions did not occur any more in any of the trees. In trees with narrow annual rings, cell wall deposition as well as lignification were completed in terminal latewood tracheids at this date, whereas in trees with annual ring widths of more than 1 mm these processes still continued. Electron microscopy as well as UV microscopy revealed an unlignified inner S2 layer and the absence of S3 and warty layers. With increasing distance from the cambium, wall formation and lignification gradually appeared to be completed. Samples of all trees taken in the middle of November only contained differentiated terminal latewood tracheids. At the structural and lignin topochemical level, November and March samples showed completed differentiation of walls of terminal latewood tracheids.

• Conclusions In trees with broader annual rings, the final steps of differentiation of the youngest latewood tracheids near the cambium still continued during autumn, but were finished prior to winter. It was concluded from structural observations that duration of cambial activity is longer in trees with broad annual rings than in trees with narrow rings.

Key words: Silver fir (Abies alba), latewood tracheids, cell wall structure, autumn differentiation, lignification, light microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, UV-microspectrophotometry


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