Capparis

Vouchers:  C. mitchellii JAB132, C. loranthifolia JAB162, JAB172

Family:  Capparaceae

General features:  Density 900-1000 kg/m3.   Heartwood absent or visually indiscernible from sapwood.   Maiden (1889) describes the wood of C. mitchellii as whitish.  Longitudinal surface characterised by ray fleck visible to the naked eye; ray fleck is particularly evident if wood is roughly sawn to expose the radial surface.  Rays distinctly visible on cross-section with naked eye.

Microscopic features:

Vessels  Tangential vessel diameter: range 12-112 µm; mean 29 µm; SD 22 µm; average maximum 36-101 µm; n =   333 vessels.  Vessels per square millimetre: range 20-110 vessels per mm2;  n =   10 sampled areas.  Vessels predominantly solitary with smaller pores in radial multiples usually of 2-3. Vessel to vessel pits vestured.  Perforation plates simple.

Fibres  Bands of thinner-walled fibres may be mistaken for banded parenchyma.

Axial parenchyma  Axial parenchyma paratracheal and scanty to vasicentric.  Diffuse-in-aggregate apotracheal axial parenchyma may be present but it is difficult to distinguish these from small radial vessels.  

Rays Rays 1-(2)9 cells wide with uniseriate rays present or absent (n = 129 rays).  Rays of uniform width and not wider than vessels.  Rays 3-9 per tangential mm (n =    25 sampled areas).  Ray height: range 76-1078 µm; mean 424 µm; SD 185 µm; n =   182 rays.   Rays heterocellular.  Silica common in ray cells.      

Helical thickenings  Absent.

Physical and chemical tests:  Chrome azurol-s test negative.

Notes:  Heartwood-dependent characters are not assessed for wood where heartwood is absent or visually indiscernible from sapwood until such time it can be reliably determined that heartwood is present.