REEXAMINATION OF WOOD ANATOMICAL FEATURES IN PINUS KREMPFII (PINACEAE)

Abstract

Wood anatomy of Pinus krempfii Lecomte, a pine endemic to Vietnam, is described using twig and mature wood collections made in 1995. Characteristics of Pinus krempfii wood include axial and radial resin canals with 6–8 thin-walled epithelial cells; latewood tracheids with tangential wall pitting; lignified ray parenchyma with 2–5 pinoid pits per cross-field; and few to no ray tracheids. Longitudinal tracheid diameter and ray height are smaller in the twig wood than in the mature wood. These features, especially the near absence of ray tracheids, suggest a relationship with Pinus subgenus Strobus section Parrya subsection Balfourianae, which includes P. aristata Engelm. and P. longaeva D. Bailey.