Plant Parts

I'm tired of photographing grey scenes with grey snow on grey days...

I was setting up for a microscopy lab later this week and realized that my research microscope has epi-fluorescence capabilities. I also remembered that some plant cells will auto-fluoresce (they don't require special dyes).

This image is an 8 image photo-stack of an anther from Bunch Berry (Cornus canadensis). The material was originally embedded in paraffin wax and sectioned on a microtome at 0.01mm thick.

The golden spaghetti-like cells are endothecium cells. They have special wall structures that cause the anther to open when the plant is ready to shed pollen. The red "balls" are pollen grains.