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Ocotea catharinensis occurs mainly in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest and is highly threatened by timber logging, forest fragmentation, and habitat loss. The remnant populations of this species are genetically rich, which may be related to the presence of long-lived trees, and so it is imperative to understand their growth and age. In this study, we analyzed trees of O. catharinensis from dense ombrophylous forest, its dendrochronological potential, the period of cambial activity and dormancy, and the influence of climate on annual growth. The species showed distinct annually-formed tree-rings, with cambial activity during summer and autumn, and cambial dormancy during winter and spring. A tree-ring width chronology was built from 1852–2015. The estimated age of the sampled trees varied from 40 to 164 years. O. catharinensis in our study site does not show a strong age–diameter relationship, hence similar diameters at breast height resulted in differences in ages by as much as 50 years. The resulting tree-ring width chronology is positively correlated with March precipitation, the transition month between rainy and dry seasons. This study brings valuable contributions to the understanding of the growth of O. catharinensis, which is a novelty for this species and important to the maintenance of these long-lived trees in natural forests.

Endangered Brazilian tree species are traded on national and international scales. Efficient control of wood supply chains is fundamental to both species and environmental conservation. Wood anatomy offers an effective method for timber screening and diagnosis, although diagnostic tools and reliable reference materials are required to verify the precise timber species commercialized. We present here anatomical information that can be used for the identification of the wood of endangered Brazilian tree species, including coded wood anatomy descriptions following standardized lists of macroscopic and microscopic features, stereomicroscope and bright field microscope micrographs, and reference data (wood collections with reference samples and anatomical descriptions). Description datasets and interactive identification keys (macroscopic and microscopic) were made available on the Xper3 web platform (http://gbg.sites.uff.br/lamad/) and can aid trained front-line staff or professional wood anatomists in trade control and forensic timber identifications of endangered Brazilian species.

Paubrasilia echinata is recognized as the best wood in the manufacture of high-quality bows for string instruments. The wood anatomy of five historic French violin bows of the 19th and 20th century made of Pernambuco wood were investigated in order to reveal the wood anatomic features of these historical bows, to determine which P. echinata morphotype (arruda, café or laranja) was used in their manufacture and to identify the state of origin of the wood. Five bow samples were compared to 33 P. echinata specimens from the Brazilian states of Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, Paraíba and Rio Grande do Norte. The wood anatomical features were compared by means of principal component analysis, which revealed the type of axial parenchyma and percentage of tissue to be the most important to sort specimens. The best wood anatomical features previously described for high-quality bows were corroborated here and the bows in general showed similar wood anatomical features. Based on wood anatomy we found that the violin bows were most similar to the samples from the arruda morphotype derived from the States of Paraíba and Rio Grande do Norte by presenting scanty, unilateral and vasicentric axial parenchyma without confluences forming bands, higher percentage of fibres and lower percentage of axial parenchyma. We can therefore suggest that the historical French violin bows studied here were all made of the arruda morphotype from the Brazilian Northeast region helping explain the preference of the French explorers for this region.

Stryphnodendron Mart. is a widespread genus in the Neotropics and its species are widely used for their timber, in popular medicine, and for tanning. The similarities in their external morphology make species identification difficult in this genus. This study describes and compares the wood anatomy of the seven species of Stryphnodendron most frequently found in Brazilian forest remnants, in order to identify which anatomical features can be used in their segregation. From seven species 31 samples of Stryphnodendron were studied. Principal Component Analysis was used to evaluate wood anatomical characters. The species were separated into two main groups, congruent with the division into multifoliolate and paucifoliolate species, due to the presence of diffuse, lozenge-aliform and confluent axial parenchyma. In the multifoliolate group, although two subgroups were formed due to ray width in number of cells, none of the species were individualised, which corroborates previous findings of high morphological and anatomical similarities of the multifoliolate species.

This article describes the wood anatomy of seven species of Tachigali Aublet with the aim of identifying 1) diagnostic characters at the species level and 2) anatomical features with potential for future combined morphological and molecular phylogenetic analysis. Tachigali species present fibre dimorphism and can be grouped according to the arrangement of the thin-walled fibres: tangential bands of thin-walled fibres alternating with thick-walled fibres, as in T. duckei and T. vulgaris; wavy bands , as in T. paratyensis, T. glauca and T. vulgaris; well-developed bands to describe the abundance of thin-walled fibres in contrast to thick-walled fibres, as in T. denudata and T. pilgeriana; and in islands or groups of thin-walled fibres scattered among ordinary fibres. It is recommended to explore the phylogenetic significance of the different types of fibre dimorphism in future combined molecular and morphological cladistics analyses.

This study is aimed to understand responses in growth rhythm to different climatic conditions of the widespread deciduous species Cedrela odorata. Our own research was conducted in Nova Iguaçu. Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil) and compared with literature data from Aripuanã. Mato Grosso State, Brazil), Manaus. Amazonas State, Brazil) and Barinas. Barinas State, Venezuela). Growth periodicity was evaluated through leaf phenological behavior and radial growth. In Nova Iguaçu, leaf phenology was monitored monthly and radial growth was evaluated by cambial histological analysis of samples collected in wet and dry seasons. In the other sites, the authors evaluated the growth rhythm by dendrometer bands. Growth always occurs in the wet season, even when there is no water deficit during the dry season. Thus, the species is considered conservative concerning the maintenance of growth seasonality. Nevertheless, C. odorata was able to change its growth period, following local seasonality of its different growth sites. Therefore we suggest caution when performing climate analysis from a chronology using trees that grow in different periods of the year.

The anatomical features of growth rings of 13 representative species of the swamp forests within the Atlantic rain forest of the State of Rio de Janeiro, southeastern Brazil, were studied. Most species showed distinct rings. The growth ring boundaries were marked by fibrous zones frequently associated with marginal parenchyma bands, and growth ring boundary features were characteristic of the particular families and genera analysed. Leaf fall can be related to the occurrence of growth rings in seven species, whereas in evergreen species growth rings can be related to flooding. In Euphorbiaceae species, flooding regime differences (periodical or permanent) are related to the shape and distribution of new cells produced by the cambium and, thus, growth ring structure.