Raphiocarpus taygiangensis, a new species of Gesneriaceae family discovered in Tay Giang District, Quang Nam Province, Central Vietnam, is here described and illustrated. The new species is diagnosed by the combination of its stem up to 2 m long, sericeous hairs on young stem, leaf petiole and adaxial mid-vein, sparsely and minutely serrate leaf margin, axillary inflorescence spreading along stem, sparsely long gland-tipped hairs on peduncle, pedicel, calyx, outside corolla and pistil, calyx 5-disparted from base, purplish white flower with purple stripes inside corolla tube, and dish-shaped stigma formed by 2 semi-orbicular lobes horizontally expanding. Distinct features of the new species and its morphologically closest congener, Rhaphiocarpus axillaris, are compared and discussed. The conservation status of the described species is estimated as Vulnerable (VU D2) according to the IUCN Red List Criteria.
The radial variation in cell morphology of ten-year-old Melia azedarach trees planted in northern Vietnam was experimentally investigated. The earlywood fiber lumen diameter and latewood fiber lumen diameter were almost unchanged from pith to 6th ring before significantly decreasing and remaining constant from 7th ring outwards. In contrast, fiber cell wall thickness in both earlywood and latewood increased from pith to 7th ring before becoming stable towards the bark. The maturation age of earlywood vessel lumen diameter estimated by segmented regression analysis indicated that wood of the Melia azedarach could be classified into core wood and outer wood, and the boundary between core and outer wood may be located at 7th ring from pith. This should be taken into account in wood processing using M. azedarach grown in northern Vietnam.
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