Wood anatomy of seven Stryphnodendron species (Mimosoid clade - Caesalpinioideae - Leguminosae)

Stryphnodendron Mart. is a widespread genus in the Neotropics and its species are widely used for their timber, in popular medicine, and for tanning The similarities in their external morphology make species identification difficult in this genus. This study describes and compares the wood anatomy of the seven species of Stryphnodendron most frequently found in Brazilian forest remnants, in order to identify which anatomical features can be used in their segregation. From seven species 31 samples of Stryphnodendron were studied. Principal Component Analysis was used to evaluate wood anatomical characters. The species were separated into two main groups, congruent with the division into multifoliolate and paucifoliolate species, due to the presence of diffuse, lozenge-aliform and confluent axial parenchyma. In the multifoliolate group, although two subgroups were formed due to ray width in number of cells, none of the species were individualised, which corroborates previous findings of high morphological and anatomical similarities of the multifoliolate species.