| Wood samples of 49 specimens representing 31 species and 11 genera of woody balsaminoids, i.e., Balsaminaceae, Marcgraviaceae, Pellicieraceae, and Tetrameristaceae, were investigated using light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The wood structure of Marcgraviaceae, Pellicieraceae, and Tetrameristaceae is characterized by radial vessel multiples with simple perforation plates, alternate vessel pitting, apotracheal and paratracheal parenchyma, septate libriform fibers, and the presence of raphides in ray cells. Tetrameristaceae and Pellicieraceae are found to be closely related based on the occurrence of unilaterally compound vessel-ray pitting and multiseriate rays with long uniseriate ends. The narrow rays in Pelliciera are characteristic of... |
