Compression stress in opposite wood of angiosperms: observations in chestnut, mani and poplar

Abstract

In order to face environmental constraints, trees are able to re-orient their axes by controlling the stress level in the newly formed wood layers. Angiosperms and gymnosperms evolved into two distinct mechanisms: the former produce a wood with large tension pre-stress on the upper side of the tilted axis, while the latter produce a wood with large compression pre-stress on the lower side. In both cases, the difference between this stress level and that of the opposite side, in light tension, generates the bending of the axis. However, light values of compression were sometimes measured in the opposite side of angiosperms. By analysing old data on chestnut and mani and new data on poplar, this study shows that these values were not measurement artefacts. This reveals that generating light compression stress in opposite wood contributes to improve the performance of the re-orientation mechanism.