Table Of ContentVascular Organization of Angiosperms
A New Vision
Vascular
Organization of
Angiosperms
A New Vision
Jean-Pierre Andre
Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique
Antibes
France
Boca Raton London New York
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ISBN-13: 978-1-57808-382-4 (pbk)
ISBN-13: 978-1-57808-310-7 (hbk)
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Andre, Jean-Pierre.
[Organisation vasculaire des angiosperms. English]
Vascular organization of angiosperms: a new vision/Jean-Pierre Andre.
p. cm.
:ncludes bibliographical references.
:SBN 1-57808-310-9 HC/1-57808-382-6 PB
1. Vascular system of plants. I. Title.
QK725.A557 2005
575.7 - dc22
2005044055
Published by arrangement with INRA, Paris.
Translation of: Organisation Vasculaire des Angiospermes:
Une Vision Nouvelle
French edition: © INRA, Paris, 2002.
To the memory of Louis Gachon, former
head of the agronomic lab in Clermont-
Ferrand, then of the Agronomic Depart
ment of INRA, who, until his death, encour
aged and supported my research with his
loyal and friendly kindness.
Foreword
This work by Jean-Pierre Andre will be appreciated at several levels. Some
readers may simply leaf through it as if it were an art book. Biologists will
discover in it an unexpected aspect of vascular structures of plants, while
others might mistake some of the images for a mountain relief, the ten
tacle of an octopus, a crab’s leg, or the columns of an Egyptian temple. But
anyone who picks up this book will be seduced, as I myself was when I first
discovered them under the microscope, by the diversity of forms and sur
faces of the microcasts made by the author. More important, the book pro
vides readers with clear explanations and elegant and precise illustra
tions, which allow them to explore in an innovative manner and better
understand the spatial organization of the vascular system of plants. The
pedagogical preoccupation that underlies the work will be appreciated by
educators as well as students.
But this book goes much further. It reveals the existence of vascular
structures that have till now remained unknown. It thus challenges some
of our ideas about the circulation of raw sap and, therefore, the relation
ships between the organs of a single plant or between a parasite and its
host. The microcasting technique, apart from its obvious interest for sys-
tematists and wood technicians, invites us to venture into new areas of
research in ecology and physiology. The images obtained also raise the
question of the control of differentiation of the vascular edifice. Wood is
often considered a near perfect example, the paradigm, of plant differen
tiation since that differentiation leads to the irreversible death of conduct
ing elements, while a large number of plant cells considered differentiated
can in certain conditions return to a juvenile state. The complexity of the
architecture revealed by microcasts is indeed quite far from simple sys
tems such as those of Zinnia cells that presently serve as models for re
search on the differentiation of the xylem.
Finally, the applications of microcasts are not limited to the study of
vascular organization. Part I of the work contains a section presenting
some potential applications, such as the exploration of secretory struc
tures or of intercellular spaces. Part II gives us the necessary technical
information to undertake our own explorations.
viii Vascular Organization of Angiosperms: A New Vision
Not only does this book allow us to appreciate the pioneer work accom
plished by Jean-Pierre Andre over the last ten years, it also opens the door
to new investigations in various directions. It is a work that will be useful
to wood biologists as well as to educators and researchers. We wish the
author all the success he deserves.
Anne-Marie Catesson
Preface and
Acknowledgements
Ever since my colleague Albertine Champeroux, amid rows of rose bushes,
initiated me into the fundamentals of histogenesis and plant organization,
it has been for me a decade of passionate discovery of plant anatomy
“through the half-open window of microcasting”, after about thirty years
working in other lines of research.
During this time, I was forced to perfect an original technique to study
vessels, in the absence of sufficiently effective knowledge and mastery of
the conventional histological techniques, and then to test it under highly
varied conditions, in the hope of some original “lucky finds” in the field of
vascular anatomy. For the freedom to pursue this research, I express my
gratitude first of all to the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique.
From the beginning, many people have given me the benefit of their
assistance and their knowledge: I am pleased to acknowledge their help
and testify to my active remembrance of them.
Since the first attempts at vessel casting in 1992, my colleague and
friend Pierre Cruiziat expressed a sustained interest in the development
and implementation of the technique, owing to his own researches in the
circulation of water in the plant, and stimulated me by his curiosity and
encouragement until the publication of this work. I owe a good part of the
success of this development to the advice of Rene David, a specialist in
archaeological casting, with whom I came into contact through a news
article.
In Anne-Marie Catesson, I have had the good fortune to find the Mas
ter to whom I owe the essence of my deeper knowledge of plant anatomy
and histology. Ever since my first visit to the Ecole Normale Superieure,
she has shown her interest in this unusual technique and given me her
confidence and patient support. We collaborated in the study of the “het
erogeneous vessels” revealed by casting in the abscission zones.
All the plants examined were provided voluntarily, the Solanaceae and
bamboos by helpful regional producers, the cereals by the INRA laboratories,
the ligneous species by the Jardin Thuret at Antibes, and the Guyanese
