Comparative wood anatomy of Pinus sylvestris and its var. compacta in the West Black Sea Region of Turkey

Abstract

Pinus sylvestris L. subsp. hamata (Steven) Fomin var. compacta Tosun is quite different from the common form of R sylvestris in its external morphology. The size of the needles, cones and seeds of the former are significantly smaller than those of the latter. Besides, this variety branches out beginning from the ground level, and has very dense branches and needles. The present study describes the anatomical properties of the wood of P. sylvestris var. compacta and compares them with typical P. sylvestris. The woods of these taxa have the same qualitative anatomical features, but most of the quantitative anatomical characteristics show significant differences: variety compacta has lower values than common P. sylvestris in tracheid length and diameter, ray height and bordered pit diameter.