Article Anatomy of the Windmill Palm (Trachycarpus fortunei) and Its Application Potential Jiawei Zhu 1, Jing Li 1,2, Chuangui Wang 3 and Hankun Wang 1,* 1 Department of Biomaterials, International Center for Bamboo and Rattan, State Forestry Administration and Beijing Co-Built Key Lab for Bamboo and Rattan Science & Technology, Beijing 100102, China;
[email protected] (J.Z.);
[email protected] (J.L.) 2 Key Lab of Wood Science and Technology of National Forestry and Grassland Administration, Research Institute of Wood Industry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100102, China 3 School of Forestry & Landscape Architecture, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China;
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[email protected] Received: 13 November 2019; Accepted: 9 December 2019; Published: 10 December 2019 Abstract: The windmill palm (Trachycarpus fortunei (Hook.) H. Wendl.) is widely distributed and is an important potential source of lignocellulosic materials. The lack of knowledge on the anatomy of the windmill palm has led to its inefficient use. In this paper, the diversity in vascular bundle types, shape, surface, and tissue proportions in the leaf sheaths and stems were studied with digital microscopy and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Simultaneously, fiber dimensions, fiber surfaces, cell wall ultrastructure, and micromechanics were studied with atomic force microscopy (AFM) and a nanoindenter. There is diversity among vascular bundles in stems and leaf sheaths. All vascular bundles in the stems are type B (circular vascular tissue (VT) at the edge of the fibrous sheath (FS)) while the leaf sheath vascular bundles mostly belong to type C (aliform (VT) at the center of the (FS), with the wings of the (VT) extending to the edge of the vascular bundles).