This work, published in two volumes, contains descriptions of the wood and bark anatomies of 3000 dicotyledonous plants of 120 families, highlighting the anatomical and phylogenetic diversity of dicotyledonous plants of the Northern Hemisphere. The first volume principally treats families of the Early Angiosperms, Eudicots, Core Eudicots and Rosids, while the second concentrates on the Asterids. Presented in Volume 1 are microsections of the xylem and phloem of herbs, shrubs and trees of 1200 species and 85 families of various life forms of the temperate zone along altitudinal gradients from the lowland at the Mediterranean coast to the alpine zone in Western Europe. The global perspective of the findings is underlined by the analysis of 500 species from the Caucasus, the Rocky Mountains and Andes, the subtropical zone on the Canary Islands, the arid zones in the Sahara, in Eurasia, Arabia and Southwest North America, and the boreal and arctic zones in Eurasia and Canada. The presence of annual rings in all life forms demonstrates that herbs and dwarf shrubs are an excellent tool for the reconstruction of annual biomass production and the interannual dynamic of plant associations. The common principle of the anatomical expression of secondary growth is a key factor in understanding evolution and adaptation processes in all life forms, from the 2 cm tall whitlow grass (Draba arctica) in the arctic to the 40 m tall beech (Fagus sylvatica) in Central European managed forests. The study opens vast fields of research for dendrochronology, wood anatomy, taxonomy and ecology.

Presents a taxonomical and ecological evaluation of stem anatomical features of all life forms of dicotyledonous Angiosperms Contains more than 2000 color illustrations Has a high aesthetic value Opens vast fields of research for dendrochronology, wood anatomy, taxonomy and ecology Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Autorentext

Fritz Schweingruber was an outstanding tree ring researcher at the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research in Birmensdorf, Switzerland, who, unfortunately, passed away before the book's publication. He collected most of the samples in the High Arctic of Canada, Greenland and Russia during his adventurous expeditions. Sample processing and description was mainly his responsibility. Miroslav Dvorský is a researcher at the Institute of Botany in T ebö, Czech Academy of Sciences, focusing on alpine plants. He prepared species annotations regarding morphology, distribution, and ecology, gathered photos, and wrote parts of the introduction. Annett Börner has been working in the field of scientific publishing for more than fifteen years and took up the challenge of designing and editing the book. She lives in Adelaide, Australia. Ji í Doleal is a researcher at the Institute of Botanyin T ebö, Czech Academy of Sciences, focusing on alpine plants. He collected most of the samples in the Himalayas, Cameroon, Japan and the Rockies.

Inhalt

1 Introduction.- 2 Material and Method.- 3 Vegetation and Plant Parameters.- 4 Definition of Anatomical Features.5 Monographic Descriptions: 86 familes (Aizoaceae Zygophyllaceae) mainly belonging to the Magnolids, Eurosids I and II and Rosids. References.- Alphabetic List of Species.