Comparative Wood Anatomical Properties of Artocarpus Species With Special Reference to Their Identification

The study was based on the wood anatomical characteristic of five economically important indigenous Artocarpus species viz. A. heterophyllus, A. chama, A. hirsutus, A. gomeziana and A. lakoocha.The standard acclaimed principle used to record the wood characteristics as per feature list provided by International Association of Wood Anatomists for hardwood identification.This study showed that all the species have some similar wood microstructural features such as diffuse porosity, indistinct growth rings, alternate inter vessel pits, solitary, simple perforation plate and rays multiseriate with occasionally uniseriate.These common characteristics help to recognize genus within family.However, some dissimilarity in wood features helps to identify species within genus.Fibres was both septate and non septate except absence of septation in A. heterophyllus and A. hirsutus.A. heterophyllus recognized on the basis of irregular band of parenchyma and presence of palisade/gash like VRPs. A. gomezianus identified on be basis of ray characteristics broad rays with maximum width of 75 -90 µm, the tallest ray less than 1000 µm in height and size of IVPs is ranged 4-12 µm while the rest species was >12 µm.Therefore, the qualitative and quantitative wood microscopic features can be used for reliable identification of Artocarpus species.