Wood and Stem Anatomy of Phytolaccoid and Rivinoid Phytolaccaceae (Caryophyllales): Ecology, Systematics, Nature of Successive Cambia

Quantitative and qualitative wood features are presented and analyzed for seven species of subfamily Rivinoideae and four of subfamily Phytolaccoideae. All species have nonbordered perforations plates, as elsewhere in suborder Phylocaccineae. Libriform fibers characterize both subfamilies, but vasicentric tracheids occur in two rivinoid species. Axial parenchyma is vasicentric scanty (apotracheal bands and patches in one species). Rays are mostly multiseriate, with procumbent cells infrequent in most species. Rivinoids and phytolaccoids differ from each other in ray height and width and in crystal types. The xeromorphic wood of Petiveria and Rivina is related to their short duration (woody herbs) in disturbed soil that dries readily. Woods of other genera are moderately mesomorphic, correlating with seasonally tropic habitats. Genera of Phytolaccaceae studied here have the same ontogenetic features leading to successive cambia as Stegnosperma. Phytolacca dioica has amphivasal pith bundles in which secondary growth occurs. Vessel restriction patterns are newly reported for the family