The distance to which wound effects influence the structure of secondary xylem of decapitated Pinus pinea

Decapitation of stems of annuals and trees for the study of vascular and fiber differentiation with or without hormonal application is a common procedure. There is controversy about whether wound effects play a role in such experiments, and to what distance from the point of decapitation. To examine this question, the distance from the point of decapitation at which apparent wound effects are obvious developmentally, was studied in decapitated 4-year-old Pinus pinea plants. The wound effects just below the cut included differentiation of many traumatic resin ducts, a parenchyma band instead of tracheids, more tracheid files, and a higher propor-tion of late wood. The increase in the number of resin ducts was still considerable and statistically significant 10 cm below the point of decapitation compared with the nondecapitated control. These results indicate that in pines, wound effects in the first 5 cm below the decapitation point (a common point for tissue examination) cannot be ignored in experiments on the regulation of vascular differentiation.