WOOD ANATOMY OF SEVEN SPECIES OF TACHIGALI (CAESALPINIOIDEAE-LEGUMINOSAE)

This article describes the wood anatomy of seven species of Tachigali Aublet with the aim of identifying 1) diagnostic characters at the species level and 2) anatomical features with potential for future combined morphological and molecular phylogenetic analysis. Tachigali species present fibre dimorphism and can be grouped according to the arrangement of the thin-walled fibres: tangential bands of thin-walled fibres alternating with thick-walled fibres, as in T. duckei and T. vulgaris; wavy bands, as in T. paratyensis, T. glauca and T. vulgaris; well-developed bands to describe the abundance of thin-walled fibres in contrast to thick-walled fibres, as in T. denudata and T. pilgeriana; and in islands or groups of thin-walled fibres scattered among ordinary fibres. It is recommended to explore the phylogenetic significance of the different types of fibre dimorphism in future combined molecular and morphological cladistics analyses.