The characterization of plant tissues by their lignin oxidation products

The cupric oxide oxidation products of 23 vascular and nonvascular plant tissues have been measured. Compositional data for vanillyl, syringyl, and cinnamyl phenols are presented in the form of five lignin parameters which are related to plant variety, lignin concentration, and tissue type. On the basis of these parameters, the 23 plant tissue samples are resolved into distinct compositional regions corresponding to: (a) nonvascular plants,

(b) gymnosperm woods,

(c) non woody gymnosperm tissues,

(d) angiosperm woods, and

(e) nonwoody angiosperm tissues.

The same five parameters also can be determined for organic materials in soils and sediments and used either to discriminate between compositionally different organic mixtures or to estimate the relative amounts of each of the above types of plant materials in the deposits.