How Do Trees Grow in Girth? Controversy on the Role of Cellular Events in the Vascular Cambium

Radial growth has long been a subject of interest in tree biology research. Recent studies have brought a significant change in the understanding of some basic processes characteristic to the vascular cambium, a meristem that produces secondary vascular tissues (phloem and xylem) in woody plants. A...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Acta biotheoretica 2021-12, Vol.69 (4), p.643-670
Main Authors: Wilczek-Ponce, Anna, Włoch, Wiesław, Iqbal, Muhammad
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cambium
Education
Evolutionary Biology
Meristems
Philosophy
Philosophy of Biology
Phloem
Regular
Regular Article
Trees
Xylem
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Summary:Radial growth has long been a subject of interest in tree biology research. Recent studies have brought a significant change in the understanding of some basic processes characteristic to the vascular cambium, a meristem that produces secondary vascular tissues (phloem and xylem) in woody plants. A new hypothesis regarding the mechanism of intrusive growth of the cambial initials, which has been ratified by studies of the arrangement of cambial cells, negates the influence of this apical cell growth on the expansion of the cambial circumference. Instead, it suggests that the tip of the elongating cambial initial intrudes between the tangential (periclinal) walls, rather than the radial (anticlinal) walls, of the initial(s) and its(their) derivative(s) lying ahead of the elongating cell tip. The new concept also explains the hitherto obscure mechanism of the cell event called ‘elimination of initials’. This article evaluates these new concepts of the cambial cell dynamics and offers a new interpretation for some curious events occurring in the cambial meristem in relation to the radial growth in woody plants.
ISSN:0001-5342
1572-8358
1572-8358
DOI:10.1007/s10441-021-09418-y