Abstract

This study on the cambium of Pinus sylvestris L. examines the intrusive growth of fusiform cambial initials and its possible contribution to the tangential and radial expansions of the cambial cylinder. The location and extent of intrusive growth of the fusiform initials were determined by microscopic observations and by mathematical modeling. In order to meet the required circumferential expansion of the cambial cylinder, the fusiform initials grow in groups by means of a symplastic rather than intrusive growth, leaving no room for the assumption that intrusive growth of the initials takes place between radial walls and has a direct role in the increase of the cambial circumference. Therefore, it is postulated that the fusiform initials grow intrusively between the tangential walls of the neighboring initials and their immediate derivatives and not between the radial walls of the adjacent initials as per common belief