| Wood anatomical studies in the economically important Apocynaceae or dogbane family are fragmentary. This study represents a first attempt to unravel the phylogenetic signifi cance and major evolutionary trends in the wood of the family, using existing and new microscopic wood observations within the large subfamily Rauvolfi oideae. On the basis of LM and SEM observations of 91 species representing all 10 currently recognized tribes, we found that most of the tribes are characterized by a unique combination of wood characters, such as vessel grouping, vessel element length, fi ber type, frequency of uniseriate rays, and fused multiseriate rays. Climbing rauvolfi oid taxa can generally be distinguished from erect species by their wider vessels, tendency to... |
