Wood and stem anatomy of Petiveria and Rivina (Caryophyllales); systematic implications

Petiveria and Rivina have been placed by various authors close to each other within Phytolaccaceae; widely separated from each other but both within Phytolaccaceae; and within a segregate family (Rivinaceae) but still within the order Caryophyllales. Wood of these monotypic genera proves to be alike in salient qualitative and even quantitative features, including presence of a second cambium, vessel morphology and pit size, nonbordered perforation plates, vasicentric axial parenchyma type, fiber-tracheids with vestigially bordered pits and starch contents, narrow multiseriate rays plus a few uniseriate rays, ray cells predominantly upright and with thin lignified walls and starch content, and presence of both large styloids and packets of coarse raphides in secondary phloem. Although further data are desirable, wood and stem data do not strongly support separation of Petiveria and Rivina from Phytolaccaceae. Quantitative wood features correspond to the short-lived perennial habit of both genera, and are indicative of a xeromorphic wood pattern.