Annals of Botany

• Background and aims Bamboo culms have excellent physical and mechanical properties, which mainly depend on their fibre content and anatomical structure. One of the features which is known to contribute to the high tensile strength in bamboo is the multilayered structure of the fibre cell wall. The aim of this study was to characterize the development of the layered structure in fibre cell walls of developing and maturing culms of Dendrocalamus asper.

• Methods Cell wall development patterns were investigated in phloem fibre caps of vascular bundles in the inner culm wall areas of Dendrocalamus asper of three different age classes (<6 months old, 1 year old, 3 years old). A combination of light microscopy and image analysis techniques were employed to measure cell wall thickness and to determine number of cell wall layers, as well as to describe the layering structure of fibre walls. Two-dimensional maps showing the distribution pattern of fibres according to the number of cell wall layers were produced.

• Key results The cell walls of fibres in phloem fibre caps located in the inner part of the culm wall of D. asper developed rapidly during the first year of growth. Six different fibre types could be distinguished based upon their cell wall layering and all were already present in the young, 1-year-old culm. In the mature stage (3 years of age) the multilayering was independent of the cell wall thickness and even the thinner-walled fibres could have a large number of wall layers. The multilayered nature of cell wall structure varied considerably between individual cells and was not exclusively related to the cell wall thickness. Nevertheless, fibres at the periphery of the fibre bundles and immediately adjacent to the phloem elements exhibited a consistent and high degree of layering in their cell walls.

• Conclusions The multilayered structure of fibre cell walls was formed mainly during the first year of growth by the deposition of new wall layers of variable thickness, resulting in a high degree of heterogeneity in the layering patterns amongst individual fibres. A degree of ‘order’ in the distribution of multilayered fibres within the caps does exist, however, with multilayered cell walls common in fibres adjacent to phloem elements and around the edge of the fibre cap. These findings confirm the observations, primarily in Phyllostachys viridi-glaucescens. The layering structure was not found to be specifically related to the thickness of the cell wall.