Anatomia do Lenho de Espécies de Stryphnodendron Mart. (Leguminosae-Mimosoideae)

Abstract

The anatomical studies of secondary xylem have contributed to systematic botany in the segregation of taxonomic groups. Thus, these studies can be very important for species identification, acquiring major connotation in groups with economic importance. Stryphnodendron has a wide distribution in Brazil and their species are widely used for pharmacological purposes; nevertheless, there are some species very similar in external morphology. Therefore, this study aimed to describe the wood anatomy of seven species of Stryphnodendron, to identify the characters that may be used in the segregation of this group, and to verify if wood anatomy supports the proposed delimitation to S. polyphyllum, in the latest taxonomical revision of the genus. Two paucifolioladas and five multifolioladas species were selected for this study. The botanical material was obtained by collecting in situ when species occurred in the Atlantic Rain Forest, and obtained from wood collections when the species occurred in the Cerrado or in the Amazon Forest. The usual methods of wood anatomy were used in this study and, in general, the descriptions followed the recommendations of the IAWA Committee. The species studied share wood anatomical characters, which can be diagnostic for the Stryphnodendron genus, such as: distinct growth ring boundaries, homogeneous rays, prismatic crystals in chambered axial parenchyma cells and fibres, vestured pits and paratracheal axial parenchyma. The results of cluster and principal components analysis showed the segregation of the species into two groups, one with the multifolioladas species and another with the paucifolioladas species. The paucifolioladas species were segregated by the tangential diameter of vessels greater than 200 μm and the axial parenchyma diffuse-in-aggregates. The results also showed a set of characters that allowed the individualization of the studied species. The qualitative characters most important for segregation of the studied species were: axial parenchyma type; demarcation type of the growth-ring boundaries; arrangements and groupings of vessels; and presence of gelatinous fibres, of septate fibres and of helical thickenings in fibres. The quantitative characters were: vessel frequency; fibres lengths; number of cells in ray width; height and width of rays; and vessel-parenchyma pits diameters.