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An anatomic study on the wood characteristics of 31 including species and varieties of the genus Ficus in Taiwan, carried out was based on the their sliding section’s and wood maceration method. Observations with light microscope and microphotography on the general features and microscopic characteristics, i.e., vessels, fiberous tissues, axial parenchyma and rays etc., was made. And an identical key was also provided for their wood identification. The results show the high similarity in the anatomical structure among the species in Ficus. It can be concluded to the same characters : 1. Diffuse porous wood, each pore is always with 2-4 multiple pores at radial longitudinal section, pore solitary, pits of side wall are alternate, and tyloses are usually found in the pore. 2. It has xylary fiber and septate fiber. 3. The shape of vasicentric parenchyma is as thin sheath and the shape of apotracheal parenchyma is as regular or irregular broad belt, with rhomboidal crystal. 4. All of the typeⅡ heterogeneous ray, most of them are typeⅡ, and few are typeⅠ. The width of multiseriate rays is up to 10 cells and the height is up to 300 cells. And small laticifer is often found in rays. Although the taxon under species and genus cannot be distinguished very obviously, there are still some clues can be found to demarcate them into the taxa in rank of sections and species also. The systematic classification based on the wood anatomy is highly in compliance with these on the classical taxonomy. It is therefore confirmed the genus Ficus is a rather natural genus.
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