The Submicroscopic Organization of the Cell Wall in Conifer Tracheides and Wood Fibres

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Abstract
The controversy concerning the details of structure in the walls of conifer tracheides has been resolved by a study of the birefringence observed in sections cut at various angles to the radial longitudinal plane. It has been demonstrated that the optical heterogeneity observed in transverse section is traceable to two factors: (i) The outer layer of each tracheide is composed of cellulose chains lying in a rather flat spiral, though not transverse, making an angle of some 50°, on an average, to cell length; in the thicker central layer the spiral is much steeper, with an angle of some 20°. (ii) At the same time the birefringence of both layers is reduced in virtue of both high lignin content and high angular dispersion, the dispersion being considerably greater in the outer layer. It is presumed that this high angular dispersion in the outer layer is responsible for the lack of any record of this layer in the X-ray diagram and its failure to make any marked contribution to the optical properties of the wall in face view.

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