| The ecological wood anatomy of 128 vaccinioid wood samples (including 115 species, 35 genera), collected between 39°S and 60°N latitude and 10 m to 3400 m altitude is studied. Several wood anatomical features within the subfamily, viz. tangential vessel diameter, average length of tracheary elements, height of multiseriate rays, and presence of prismatic crystals are negatively correlated with increasing latitude, while vessel density and helical thickenings show a positive correlation with increasing latitude. Similar latitudinal trends are found within the genus Vaccinium (31 species studied). The correlation between various wood anatomical features and latitude is surprisingly high despite the fact that most tropical species grow in montane regions,... |
