The progressive and ancestral traits of the secondary xylem within Magnolia clad - the early diverging lineage of flowering plants

摘要

The qualitative and quantitative studies, presented in this article, on wood anatomy of various species belonging to ancient Magnolia genus reveal new aspects of phylogenetic relationships between the species and show evolutionary trends, known to increase fitness of conductive tissues in angiosperms. They also provide new examples of phenotypic plasticity in plants.