Wood anatomy of Indian oaks, with reference to systematic, ecological and evolutionary perspectives

The present study provides a comprehensive wood microstructure analysis of
16 species of the genus Quercus inhabiting the Himalayan region of India.
Indian oaks can be categorised into two groups: Ring porous oaks and
diffuse porous oaks. Most of the diffuse porous oaks were quite homogenous
in their microstructure and showed slight variations in ray cellular
composition and axial parenchyma distribution. The results revealed that
the current classification of Quercus is not in concordance with the wood
microstructure. From an ecological view point, cluster analysis gave
interesting results; largely suggesting that quantitative wood
microstructure of Indian oaks is governed by different environmental
conditions of eastern and western Himalayas. The genus is also examined
from evolutionary point of view. All the species of oaks showed a
combination of both primitive and advanced wood anatomical characters.