This is a call for proposals for papers for a special issue of the IAWA Journal commemorating the career of Sherwin Carlquist (1930-2021). Sherwin Carlquist was arguably the most important figure in the field of comparative wood anatomy. He made numerous truly foundational contributions to the field, including systematic wood anatomy, and especially functional wood anatomy. Like any major scientific figure, his work was rooted in its time and place and reflected Sherwin's particular approach to science. This special issue will provide thoughtful interpetation of this legacy to honor his contributions and reflect on the way forward for the field.

To do so, we invite proposals for manuscripts that explain, interpret, critique, or otherwise use a specific idea, approach, or paper(s) of Sherwin's as their starting point. Some authors will examine one or more of his comparative hypotheses in the light of current physiological knowledge, including the vulnerability to drought-induced embolism-conduit diameter link, the physiological significance of bordered pits on ray cells, and Sherwin's hypotheses on the function of vestured pits. Other authors will examine his inferential strategy, the meaning of the term "primitive" in his work, and other authors will treat historical aspects of his work.  

In your proposal, please indicate which paper, papers, books, etc., of Sherwin you would like to react to and how you plan to carry out your discussion. We have considerable editorial leeway, so please feel free to propose multi-authored papers, short or long ones, empirical or conceptual. Funding is available to make all papers open access.

The issue will the first of 2023, with manuscript first submission being September 1st of 2022.

Invited editors for this special edition: Joyce G. Onyenedum, Mark E. Olson and Marcelo R. Pace
For questions and inquiries marcelo.pace at ib.unam.mx