Permeability and meniscus phenomenon in four Korean softwood species

The safranine impregnation differences in Pinus koraiensis, P. densiflora, P. rigida, and Larix kaempferi were studied. Among them, P. koraiensis conducted higher depth of safranine in radial and L. kaempferi in longitudinal direction. High magnification was used to observe the safranine penetration behavior in longitudinal direction especially in longitudinal tracheids. Safranine impregnation in longitudinal tracheids was captured in digital video mode to observe the formation of curved and flat air-safranine meniscus. Given the tracheid radius 16-20 μm, surface tension of water at 72 dynes per centimeter at 23℃ and a contact angle 30°, the capillary pressure ranges from 0.06 to 0.08 bar. The lower the lumen diameter is, the higher the capillary pressure is. It was assumed that due to the differences of total water pressure under the safranine-water interface and total air pressure above the interface, curved meniscus was formed in the cell lumen.