Anatomical Comparison of Compression, Opposite, and Lateral Woods in New Zealand Rimu (Dacrydium cupressinum Lamb.)

Compression, lateral, and opposite woods in the stem and branch of rimu (Dacrydium cupressinum Lamb.), a softwood species indigenous to New Zealand, were described and compared in the anatomical aspects. Qualitatively, growth rings were wide in the compression wood, intermediate in the lateral wood, and narrow in the opposite wood. Tracheid transition from early wood to late wood was very gradual in the compression wood but was more abrupt in both the lateral and opposite woods. When viewed transversely, compression wood tracheids showed a roundish outline except at the growth ring boundary but lateral and opposite wood tracheids were angular to rectangular in outline. Intercellular spaces were occasionally detected in the compression wood except in the late wood at the growth ring boundary but were absent from both the lateral and opposite woods. Slit-like extensions of the bordered pit openings caused by the location of pit apertures within short and narrow helical grooves were observed in the compression wood tracheids but not in the opposite or lateral wood tracheids. In the compression wood tracheids, fine striations in the form of fine checks or grooves were observed on the lumen surfaces and the innermost $S_3$ layer of secondary wall was absent. In the tracheids of lateral and opposite woods, the $S_3$ layer was sometimes absent but occasionally highly developed. Cross-field pits in the compression wood appeared to be piceoid due to slit-like pit apertures but those in the lateral and opposite wood tracheids showed cupressoid to taxodioid. Quantitatively, compression wood tracheids were somewhat shorter than those of opposite or lateral wood in stem but not different from the opposite or lateral wood tracheids in branch. The walls were thicker in the compression wood than in the lateral or opposite wood. Uniseriate rays in the compression wood were fewer than in the lateral or opposite wood.