Details - Opal phytoliths in Southeast Asian flora

Opal phytoliths in Southeast Asian flora

Title

Opal phytoliths in Southeast Asian flora

Related Titles

Series: Smithsonian contributions to botany, no. 88

By

Kealhofer, Lisa.

Piperno, Dolores R.

Type

Book

Material

Published material

Publication info

Washington, D.C, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1998

Notes

"Issued Nov. 10, 1998 Smithsonian Institution"--Stamped on t.p.

One of the major uses of phytolith analysis is the reconstruction of regional environmental histories. As a relatively new subset of paleoecology, reference collections and studies of phytolith distributions and morphology are still relatively few. This article summarizes a study of phytolith form and distribution across a broad spectrum of 77 families of both monocotyledons and dicotyledons. A total of 800 samples from different plant parts of 377 species were analyzed, with diagnostic phytoliths occurring in nine monocotyledon and 26 dicotyledon families. These diagnostic types are described and illustrated herein. Poaceae phytoliths were not included in this review because they warrant more detailed and systematic description. The wide distribution of diagnostic phytoliths across all basic habitats described for Thailand, demonstrated herein, indicates that phytolith analysis has great potential for paleoecological reconstruction.