Ecological anatomy aims to correlate the morphological and anatomical structures of plants with climatic, geographic and soil data. This study evaluated the qualitative and quantitative differences in the "pau-jacaré" wood -Piptadenia gonoacanthatrees from Cantareira State Park (PEC) and Caetetus Ecological Station (EEC), respectively areas of Dense Ombrophylous Forest (Atlantic Forest) and Semi-deciduous Seasonal Forest. The anatomical parameters were analyzed according to usual techniques of wood anatomy and the data evaluated by analysis of variance (ANOVA) and multiple comparison tests. The results revealed statistically significant differences: trees from PEC had higher vessels frequency, lower, wider and more frequent rays, and fibers with larger diameters. In turn, trees from EEC showed higher vulnerability index and smaller pith vessels. The differences found in the wood specimens of the two sites could be due to variations in temperature, rainfall, altitude, latitude and longitude, although a larger number of individuals should be studied to determine possible ecological trends.
Piptadenia gonoacantha; wood anatomy; pau-jacaré
