Comparative Morphology and Anatomy of the Stem of the Flowering Plants

This report concerns itself with the morphology and anatomy of the stem of flowering plants. Research results dealing with both the primary body and secondary xylem are discussed. For the most part, literature dealing with fossil plants, tissue culture, the phloem, the periderm, and regional, purely descriptive, or applied wood anatomy is not treated. I have made no attempt to summarize systematic conclusions, some of which are reviewed in a previous volume (Kadereit 1989). With few exceptions, this discussion is restricted to literature published in the years 1986–1990. During this interval much new factual information has been obtained which has been responsible for the formation of new morphological concepts as well as the reinforcement, substantial modification, or even abandonment of existing theories on the nature, structure, origin, and evolution of angiosperm stems and tissues.