Journal Article

Peculiar tension wood structure in Laetia procera (Poepp.) Eichl. (Flacourtiaceae)

Ruelle, Julien, Clair, Bruno, School of Bio-agricultural Science (SBS-NAGOYA) ; Nagoya University, Thibaut, Bernard, Laboratoire de Mécanique et Génie Civil (LMGC) ; Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), ANR-05-BDIV-0012,Woodiversity,Diversité des structures de bois et analyse biophysique des stratégies écologiques des ligneux en forêt tropicale humide, Mécanique de l'Arbre et du Bois (MAB) ; Laboratoire de Mécanique et Génie Civil (LMGC) ; Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Ecologie des forêts de Guyane (ECOFOG) ; Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Université des Antilles et de la Guyane (UAG)-AgroParisTech-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Yoshida, Masato

2007

Overview

Tension wood of Laetia procera (Poepp.) Eichl. (Flacourtiaceae), a neo-tropical forest species, shows a peculiar secondary wall structure, with an alternance of thick and thin layers, while opposite wood of this species has a typical secondary wall structure (S1 + S2 + S3). Samples for the study of microstructural properties were collected upon the estimation of growth stresses in the living tree, in order to analyze the correlation of the former with the latter. Investigation using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and UV microspectrophotometry allowed the description of the anatomy, ultra-structure and chemistry of this peculiar polylaminate secondary wall. In the thick layers, cellulose microfibril angle is very low (i.e., microfibril orientation is close to fibre axis) and cellulose microfibrils are well organized and parallel to each other. In the thin layers, microfibrils (only observable in the inner layer) are less organized and are oriented with a large angle relative to the axis of the cell. Thick layers are lightly lignified although thin layers show a higher content of lignin, close to that of opposite wood secondary wall. The more the wood was under tensile stress, the less the secondary wall was lignified, and lower the syringyl on guaiacyl lignin units' ratio was. The innermost layer of the secondary wall looks like a typical S3 layer with large microfibril angle and lignin occurrence. The interest of this kind of structure for the understanding of stress generation is discussed.

• Publisher: Springer Verlag,HAL CCSD,Berlin/Heidelberg : Springer-Verlag,Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Cellulose / Cellulose fibers / Cellulose microfibril angle / Engineering Sciences / Flacourtiaceae / forests / Laetia procera / Life Sciences / Light microscopy / Lignin / Microfibrils / Optical microscopy / Other / Salicaceae / Scanning electron microscopy / tensile strength / Tensile stress / tension wood / Thin films / trees / Tropical forests / Tropical rainforest species / ultrastructure / UV microspectrophotometry / Vegetal Biology / Wood
• ISBN: 0002462062000