https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/massey/oai:mro.massey.ac.nz:10179/6572
type: CreativeWork
name: Ecological trends in the wood anatomy of Leptospermum scoparium J.R. et G. Forst (Manuka) family, Myrtaceae : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Science in Plant Biology at Massey University
description: The wood anatomy of manuka growing in five different habitats was analysed to establish whether or not different anatomical forms exist. The study involved the use of the light microscope for obtaining vessel and fibre quantitative data such as their length, width, wall thickness, density of vessel elements in a transection and average grouping of vessels. The confocal microscope was used to measure the area of perforation plates of fibriform vessels and wide vessels. The study also involved the use of the scanning electron microscope for determining the presence of cell wall sculpturing in the walls of wide vessels. The data was analysed by univariate analysis to determine any variation of wood characters within a population and between populations in the five habitats. The habitats were margins of lowland forests, swamp, sand dune, subalpine and hot thermal soils. The study has established variations within each population in all the cell types. The study showed that plants differed anatomically in the average sizes of their cell length, width, wall thickness, abundance of vessels, area of perforation plates and the average grouping and the type of grouping of vessels. There was also variation of wood anatomy between populations in most cell characters except for the length of wide vessels, length of fibriform vessels and wall thickness of fibre-tracheids. In these characters the wood anatomy of manuka was more homogeneous. The significant trends were that margins of lowland forests had wide and thick walled cells in all the cell types and also had high average group of vessels and large area of perforation plates of fibriform vessels and small area of perforation plates for wide vessels. It had short libriform fibres and fibre-tracheids. The swamp habitat seemed to follow margins of lowland forests except that it had the longest fibre-tracheids and libriform fibres and had the greatest area of perforation plates for wide vessels. Both of these habitats had the lo…
abstract: The wood anatomy of manuka growing in five different habitats was analysed to establish whether or not different anatomical forms exist. The study involved the use of the light microscope for obtaining vessel and fibre quantitative data such as their length, width, wall thickness, density of vessel elements in a transection and average grouping of vessels. The confocal microscope was used to measure the area of perforation plates of fibriform vessels and wide vessels. The study also involved the use of the scanning electron microscope for determining the presence of cell wall sculpturing in the walls of wide vessels. The data was analysed by univariate analysis to determine any variation of wood characters within a population and between populations in the five habitats. The habitats were margins of lowland forests, swamp, sand dune, subalpine and hot thermal soils. The study has established variations within each population in all the cell types. The study showed that plants differed anatomically in the average sizes of their cell length, width, wall thickness, abundance of vessels, area of perforation plates and the average grouping and the type of grouping of vessels. There was also variation of wood anatomy between populations in most cell characters except for the length of wide vessels, length of fibriform vessels and wall thickness of fibre-tracheids. In these characters the wood anatomy of manuka was more homogeneous. The significant trends were that margins of lowland forests had wide and thick walled cells in all the cell types and also had high average group of vessels and large area of perforation plates of fibriform vessels and small area of perforation plates for wide vessels. It had short libriform fibres and fibre-tracheids. The swamp habitat seemed to follow margins of lowland forests except that it had the longest fibre-tracheids and libriform fibres and had the greatest area of perforation plates for wide vessels. Both of these habitats had the lo…
author: Lebutswe, Tebogo
keywords: Wood anatomy, Manuka, Leptospermum scoparium
date published: 2000
date modified: 2026-07-27T20:17:28Z
provider: Massey University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Massey University