Anatomía comparada de leño y corteza de Geoffroea striata y Geoffroea decorticans

Abstract

Two are the arboreal species of the genus Geoffroea that vegetate in Argentina: Geoffroea striata Morong (manduvi-rá) and Geoffroea decorticans Burkart (chañar). Both have floristic importance, are used locally but their woods have no commercial value. The objectives of this work are: to describe the wood and bark anatomy of Geoffroea striata and contribute to their knowledge, to compare it anatomically with Geoffroea decorticans. The material was collected from natural forests of Isla del Cerrito Locality in Chaco (Chaco eastern district) and Los Flores, in Santiago del Estero ( Chaco western district). Five trees of each species were selected at random, obtaining a disc of 5 cm from the trunk at 1,3 m. In wood descriptions the IAWA Nomenclature was used. Bark descriptions were made according to standards of tissues distribution and the terminology of Roth. It may be Concluded that Geoffroea striata is a tree of great anatomical affinity with Geoffroea decorticans, being susceptible to have an alternative use of its wood. The variables present in the wood having meaningful differences are: vessel length, number of pores/mm²; fiber external and internal diameter, fiber wall thickness, as well as ray length. In bark, the principal differences reside in the external aspect. Both species present evolutionary characters in wood and bark.