POLYGONAL ASPECTS OF CELL FACES. III. CELL SIZE,CELL DIVISION,AND CELL FACE DISTRIBUTIONS

Wheeler , George E. (Brooklyn Coll., Brooklyn, New York.) Polygonal aspects of cell faces. III. Cell size, cell division, and cell face distributions. Amer. Jour. Bot. 50(8): 747–754. Illus. 1963.—The effects of cell size differences on cell face (polygon type) distributions, and the relationship of cell division to these effects were investigated, using published and original data. Only “relative” size was considered, i.e., the size of a body compared with the sizes of contiguous bodies. A preliminary study of mixtures including 2 sizes of nonliving bodies (bubbles or shot) showed that, with increase in number of smaller bodies relative to larger, 4- and 5-gons decrease and 6-gons increase on both large and small bodies (except for 5-gons on small bubbles). Since the cited papers on cells generally include no volume measurements, cell size was assumed to be proportional to number of faces; therefore, the cells from each sample were pooled in 3 groups of different ranges as to number of faces per cell. This device made evident the 4- and 5-gon decreases and the 6-gon increases with increasing size, but only in certain samples;- marked exceptions occurred among others. New data from 2 original samples showed, in general, the correlations described above, but again then; were exceptions. Discrepancies were found to arise from variable division patterns which affect face types both directly, and indirectly through division effects on cell size. It was concluded that relative size is generally less important in determining cell face distributions than are the more direct cell division events, and that size difference effects can be detected only if the other events operate minimally.