Fibre Length in Storeyed Hardwoods

(1) Measurements of the lengths of wood fibres and of parenchyma strands were made in three species with storeyed structure, Pterocarpus angolensis, Nesogordonia papavifera and Aeschynomene elaphroxylon. (2) Within the growth ring fibre length rose to a maximum in the middle of the ring and dropped abruptly at the ring boundary, but the length of the parenchyma strands remained constant. (3) Neither the fibres nor the parenchyma strands showed any general tendency to increase in length from the pith outwards.