Spiral phyllotaxis of needle fascicles on branches and scales on cones in Pinus contorta var. latifolia:: Are they influenced by wood-grain spiral?

Neither the relationship between the chirality of spiral phyllotaxis and spiral wood grain nor the cause or ontogeny of such a relationship has been examined previously. To this end, chirality of the spiral in phyllotaxis of needle fascicles and cone scales were contrasted with wood-grain spiral in seedlings, young, and mature trees of Rocky Mountain lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta Dougl. ex Loud. var. latifolia Engelm.) in central British Columbia. To assess chirality of phyllotaxis, the relationship between numbers of contact parastichies and chirality of phyllotaxis in scales on cones and needle fascicles on branchlets was determined. Three or 8 clockwise acropetal contact parastichies were indicative of a clockwise generative spiral, while totals of 2, 5, or 13 clockwise acropetal parastichies were indicative of a counter-clockwise generative spiral. Lodgepole pine trees were nearly always chimeric, i.e., having clockwise and counter-clockwise phyllotaxis on the same individual, but there was a high overall correspondence between the chirality of phyllotaxis in cone scales and subtending needle fascicles. Seedlings (<1.5 years old) had no measurable wood-grain angle and clockwise and counter-clockwise phyllotaxis occurred in equal proportions. However, young trees (13-15 years since planting) had a pronounced clockwise bias to their wood-grain spiral in contrast with a counter-clockwise bias in phyllotaxis. In contrast, mature trees (≥100 years old) had the reverse trend and exhibited a counter-clockwise bias in wood-grain spiral but a clockwise bias in phyllotaxis. A model is proposed to explain how chirality of spiral wood grain could generate an inverse bias in the chirality of phyllotaxis in lodgepole pine.