More than 200 years after von Humboldt's pioneering work on the treeline, our understanding of the cold distribution limit of upright plant growth is still incomplete. Here, we use wood anatomical techniques to estimate the degree of stem cell wall lignification in 1770 plant species from six continents. Contrary to the frequent belief that small plants are less lignified, we show that cell wall lignification in 'woody' herbs varies considerably. Although trees and shrubs always exhibit lignified cell walls in their upright stems, small plants above the treeline may contain less lignin. Our findings suggest that extremely cold growing season temperatures can reduce the ability of plants to lignify their secondary cell walls. Corroborating experimental and observational evidence, this study proposes to revisit existing theories about the thermal distribution limit of upright plant growth and to consider biochemical and biomechanical factors for explaining the global treeline position.

Department of Biochemistry University of Cambridge CB2 1QW Cambridge United Kingdom

Department of Botany Faculty of Science University of South Bohemia 370 05 Ceske Budejovice Czech Republic

Department of Geography Faculty of Science Masaryk University 611 37 Brno Czech Republic

Department of Geography University of Cambridge CB2 3EN Cambridge United Kingdom

Forest Biometrics Laboratory Faculty of Forestry Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava 720229 Suceava Romania

Global Change Research Institute CAS 603 00 Brno Czech Republic

Institute of Botany Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic 379 01 Trebon Czech Republic

Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL 8903 Birmensdorf Switzerland

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Commun Biol. 2023 Apr 13;6(1):404. doi: 10.1038/s42003-023-04775-5. PubMed

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Commun Biol. 2023 Jun 26;6(1):662. doi: 10.1038/s42003-023-05033-4. PubMed

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Commun Biol. 2023 Jun 26;6(1):663. doi: 10.1038/s42003-023-05032-5. PubMed

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