Cell grouping and primary wall generations in the cambial zone, xylem, and phloem in Pinus

Abstract

The use of the term cambium, or equivalent terms, in modern literature is discussed. The term cambial zone adopted in this paper includes the cambial initial and the dividing and enlarging cells. The tissue mother cell produced at each division of the initial produces a group of four cells in xylem or two cells in phloem. Theoretical constructs have been made for xylem and phloem production by associating the concepts that xylem and phloem are produced in alternate series of initial divisions and that a new primary wall is deposited around each daughter protoplast at each cell division. Correlations are derived from the theoretical constructs for the thickness of primary wall layers lying in the tangential direction and of those lying in the radial direction at progressive histological levels. Deductions from theoretical constructs are made when the initial is producing xylem, when it changes its polarity from xylem to phloem production, and when the reverse change occurs. Most of the theoretical deductions are supported by photographic evidence. The chief point of this study is the demonstration of generations (multiplicity) of primary parental walls. The term intercellular material proposed in this paper includes the cell plate plus any remnants of ancestral primary walls between the current primary walls surrounding the adjacent protoplasts. This term is still applicable to cells where secondary wall deposition is taking place or has been completed.