Comparative wood anatomy of 56 species of Lauraceae from Yunnan, China

Abstract

Wood anatomy of 56 species from 11 genera of Lauraceae collected from Yunnan, China were investigated by light and scanning electron microscopy. Detailed descriptions and comparisons of wood anatomy of different species are given in the paper to help better identification of Lauraceae wood. The qualitative and quantitative data show that wood structures are very similar among the Lauraceae studied. They are almost diffuse-porous, mainly solitary, minority radial, or diagonal multiples. Vessels have simple perforation and scalariform perforation, and the bars of scalariform perforation have bifurcations. The intervessel pits are almost alternate. Wood rays are uniseriate and multiseriate, with the former being relatively rare. All species have axial parenchyma, most of which are vasicentric. The species of Beilschmiedia and Syndiclis marlipoensis also have marginal parenchyma. Oil and mucilage cells are common in axial parenchyma and ray cells. Wood fibers are composed of libriform fibers and fiber tracheids. Many species have abundant septate fibers. Individual differences are found in several species, which may be related to genetic or environmental factors. We have roughly concluded that Beilschmiedia and S. marlipoensis have a close affiliation for they both have simple perforated plates and marginal parenchyma but with no septate fibers. Almost all species of Litsea, Neolitsea, and Actinodaphne obovata have septate fibers, simple and scalariform perforate plate, and scanty paratracheal and vasicentric parenchyma, indicating that they might be sister taxa.

A comparative phytochemical study of nine Lauraceae species by using chemometric data analysis

“…PLS-DA is a supervised method that is an alternative to the unsupervised PCA method and interprets data with intergroup variability to better represent group structures [27] , indicating that chemical compounds, such as cinnamic acid derivatives, flavonoids, and isoquinoline alkaloids, were the major features distinguishing the nine Lauraceae species. Isoquinoline alkaloids, such as coclaurine (7) and roemerine (11), were selected as marker metabolites to separate Neolitsea sericea (Blume) Koidz (NS) from the other species on the PLS-DA score plot because of the relatively high concentrations of 7 and 11 in NS. The bar plot data presented in Fig 4 show that 7 was also found in small quantities in LJ, whereas 11 was only detected in NS and could therefore be a more definitive marker than 7.…”

“…Compounds 1, 3, 7, 8, 11, and 12 were putatively identified as neochlorogenic acid (1), laurolitsine (3), coclaurine (7), dihydrokaempferol (8), roemerine (11), and phenylalanine (12), respectively, based on a literature search and comparison of MS/MS patterns [43][44][45][46]. The exact mass, chemical formula, retention time, and MS/MS fragment information of the compounds were obtained from the UPLC-QTOF-MS data using MassHunter software.…”

“…Although phytochemical studies are recognized for being able to deepen the understanding of relationships among targeted plants, comparative chemical analyses among Lauraceae have not been performed [4,5]. Many taxonomic analyses for Lauraceae species have been conducted on using morphological [6,7], anatomical [8][9][10][11], and genetic [12][13][14] differences to distinguish species.…”

Using Idioblasts to Group Laurinoxylon Species: Case Study From the Oligo-Miocene of Europe

“…observ. for Syndiclis lotungensis), but Sun et al (2015) reported that S. marlipoensis has marginal parenchyma. Moreover, the wood anatomy of some genera of Cryptocaryeae (Sinopora, Yasunia) is unknown.…”

Research of the cenophytic palaeoflora of the Eastern Mediterranean (Lesbos, Lemnos, Alonissos, Gavdos Islands)

“…but Sun et al (2015) reported that S. marlipoensis has marginal parenchyma. Moreover, the wood anatomy of some genera of Cryptocaryeae (Sinopora, Yasunia) is unknown.…”