This study focuses on the interspecific variation in the distribution and structure of pits between vessels and imperforate tracheary elements. Specimens from the outer sapwood of eight species, in which vessel elements are frequently in contact with fibres and/or tracheids, were prepared using two different techniques and examined by field-emission scanning electron microscopy. In three species in which vessels are surrounded by vasicentric tracheids and/or fibres with distinctly bordered pits, pit pairs frequently occurred in walls between vessels and imperforate tracheary elements. In the five species in which vessels are in contact with fibres with indistinctly bordered pits, no or very few pit pairs were present, and blind pits were often found. Blind pits were exclusively present in vessel elements in some species, while they were restricted to imperforate tracheary elements in other species. The nature of vessel to imperforate tracheary element pitting appears to depend on tracheary element specialization.