Abstract
Treatment of erect stems of Prosopis with near phytotoxic levels of 2,4‐D or 2,4,5‐T causes the formation of an unusual wood with narrow, thick‐walled vessels and axial parenchyma in which cell wall thickening is inhibited. Although reduced in diameter, the vessels formed during 2,4‐D and 2,4,5‐T treatment are so numerous that there is no significant difference between phenoxyacetic acid and control seedling groups with regard to total area of xylem occupied by vessels. The preferential maturation of xylem vessels over parenchyma and the transformation of fusiform initials into septate parenchyma strands in phenoxyacetic acid‐treated Prosopis resemble the structural changes reported to occur after girdling in the cambial tissue of other arborescent angiosperms. Bending experiments indicate that tension‐wood fibers of Prosopis differentiate in response to an auxin deficiency. However, xylogenesis in erect stems treated with TIBA is affected such that a significantly higher proportion of the cambial cell population becomes axial xylem parenchyma.
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