1. The Vascular Cambium of Trees and its Involvement in Defining Xylem Anatomy
- Author
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Jozica Gricar, Risto Jalkanen, Peter Prislan, Jeong-Wook Seo, Dieter Eckstein, Uwe Schmitt, Horst Stobbe, Gerald Koch, and Katarina Čufar
- Subjects
fungi ,Botany ,Vascular cambium ,food and beverages ,Xylem ,Cork cambium ,Anatomy ,Biology ,Cellular level ,Meristem ,Cambium ,Process (anatomy) ,Vascular tissue - Abstract
The vascular cambium of trees is a secondary meristem and is responsible for the formation of the xylem and phloem. The main focus of this chapter is on the xylem, specifically on the following three topics, demonstrating that the cambium is not only responsible for the quantitative side of xylem formation, but also for the expression of stable anatomical features essential for wood identification. In this complex process, we first describe the seasonal cambial activity and its environmental control. Second, we discuss the cambium’s involvement in the restoration of tissues after injuries. Third, we examine the cambium-dependent shaping of taxa-specific wood anatomical characteristics. The results are mainly based on light microscopy; however, electron microscopy was also occasionally used to reveal structural features on the cellular level.
- Published
- 2016