What is disjunctive xylem parenchyma?
Peter Kitin2,5, Hans Beeckman2, Tomoyuki Fujii3, Ryo Funada4, Shuichi Noshiro3 and Hisashi Abe3 2 Laboratory for Wood Biology and Xylarium, Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren B-3080, Belgium 3 Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Tsukuba Science City, 305-8687 Japan 4 Faculty of Agriculture, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Fuchu-Tokyo 183-8509, Japan ABSTRACT The morphological variation and structure–function relationships of xylem parenchyma still remain open to discussion. We analyzed the three-dimensional structure of a poorly known type of xylem parenchyma with disjunctive walls in the tropical hardwood Okoubaka aubrevillei (Santalaceae). Disjunctive cells occurred among the apotracheal parenchyma cells and at connections between axial and ray parenchyma cells. The disjunctive cells were partly detached one from another, but their tubular structures connected them into a continuous network of axial and ray parenchyma. The connecting tubules had th
