Scientific publications

Karelian birch (Betula pendula Roth var. carelica (Mercl.) Hamet-Ahti) is highly diverse in terms of the location and density of wood figure in trunk sections. We have previously showed that figured wood development in this tree may be induced by excessive content of sucrose in trunk tissues. Relying on our assumption of the regulatory role of sucrose in the formation of figured wood in Karelian birch, we managed to provide a scientific explanation to structural peculiarities of figured wood, different density of the figure, various localizations of figured wood in a trunk, pulsed development of the wood structural abnormalities, relationship between the trunk radial growth rate, bark thickness and wood texture. It is for the first time that they appear as an outcome of sucrose excess in the trunk rather than just as scattered facts.