Studies of the Lignotubers of Eucalyptus gummifera (Gaertn. & Hochr.). II. Anatomy

Abstract

The anatomy of mallee-type lignotubers of Eucalyptus gummifera has been investigated. The lignotubers contained the following tissues: cambium, phloem, rhytidome, sapwood, heartwood and kino veins. The types and characteristics in lignotubers and stems were generally similar. The lignotuber tissues differed from stem tissues only in quantitative aspects; for example, wood fibres were shorter, the proportion of axial parenchyma of the wood was greater and there was less expansion of the axial parenchyma of the outer phloem. The high proportion of storage tissue in the lignotuber wood in comparison with stem wood suggests that food storage is an important function of lignotubers.