Size correlations among cambial initials and their derivatives in Polyalthia longifolia Thw.

The length and breadth of the cambial initials and their derivatives have been examined in Polyalthia longifolia, a tropical tree possessing non-storied cambium. Taking the average size of the initials and the elements originating from them, most of the sieve-tube elements have been found to be slightly shorter in length than the fusiform initials. On the other hand, a few of these are still shorter - almost half of the fusiform initials, due to transverse or somewhat oblique divisions in the sieve element mother cells. The vessel elements are slightly shorter but 5-6 times wider than the fusiform initials. The parenchyma strands, in phloem comprising cells storing starch or tannin (pps), in xylem accumulating starch only (ssps), are more or less equal to fusiform initials indicating that the xylem and phloem mother cells forming parenchyma cells have not undergone any major change except for transverse divisions. The individual vessel-associated parenchyma cells (v.a.p. cells) are wider but much shorter in length as compared to the starch-storing parenchyma cells (s.s.p. cells) indicating that more transverse divisions have occured in the strands of the former than those of the latter. Among all the cambial derivatives, the fibers exhibit maximum increase in length, due to intrusive growth. The ray parenchyma cells are slightly longer than the ray initials possibly due to the elongation of these initials during their transformation into vascular ray cells