Lack of latitudinal trends in wood anatomy of Dodonaea viscosa (Sapindaceae), a species with a worldwide distribution

Latitudinal or altitudinal variation in several anatomical characters of wood is common for woody dicotyledonous genera with a wide distribution, but whether such variation exists at the species level is disputed. Latitudinal and altitudinal trends in wood anatomy of Dodonaea viscosa were studied, using 102 samples collected between 41.2degrees S and 33.3degrees N latitude and 7-2750 in altitude. We studied variation in four quantitative features: vessel element length, fiber length, vessel frequency, and tangential vessel diameter. Ontogenetic trends were minimal with a slight decrease or increase in the innermost stem and were negligible among the studied specimens. Throughout the distributional range of the species, no latitudinal trends were detected in either the Northern or Southern Hemispheres, Altitudinal trends were also nonexistent, except for two features in specimens from China and Japan. Absence of latitudinal or altitudinal trends in this widely distributed species suggests that in some species the species-level variation in wood anatomy is not controlled by ecological gradients.

Calorimetric study of Wood alloy

The heat capacities of Wood alloy have been measured with an automatic adiabatic calorimeter over the temperature range of 80 similar to 360 K. The thermodynamic data of solid-liquid phase transition have been obtained from the heat capacity measurements. The melting temperature, enthalpy and entropy of fusion of the substance are 345.662 K, 18.47 J.g(-1) and 0.05343 J.g(-1).K-1, respectively. The necessary thermal data are provided for the low temperature thermodynamic study of the alloy.