Reinvestigation of the Wood Structure of Thottea Siliquosa (Aristolochiaceae)

Abstract

An accurate deseription of the wood structure of Thottea siliquosa is presented for the first time. Earlier deseriptions for this species were based on ineorreetly identified sampies. Wood is diffuse-porous with distinet growth rings. Vessels are small , solitary, in radial multiples and also in clusters, forming a distinet radial pattern. Perforations are simple, intervessel pits small, alternate without vestures. Vaseular traehe ids are present. Axial parenehyma is diffuse and diffuse-in-aggregates. Rays are very high and broad, heterogeneous. Fibres thick-walled and non-septate. Oil eells are absent.

Pharmacognostic and HPTLC Fingerprint Profile of the Root of Aristolochia indica Linn. and Quantification of the Marker Compound

“…Tangential section of the root showed diffuse axial parenchyma and absence of vessel contacts with rays. According to Metcalfe and Chalk [17], Rao et al [22] and Carlquist [23], rays are remarkably wide in most members of the family Aristolochiaceae, and the vessel density roughly inversely proportional to the diameter of the lumen of the vessel. Species with the widest vessels had the fewest vessels per rnm 2 .…”