Plagiomnium ellipticum, Part II

[ralfwagner]

Hello,

here is part II of Plagiomnium ellipticum:

d) Seamed leaf border:



e) Polygonal lamina-cells. On a closer look at the chloroplasts you will even find some of them in dividing-process:



f) Stem, cross section in Etzold stain. Central part with central string (hadrom) and surrounding conducting tissue. At the border we see the outer cortex-layer (stereom). This is the way the stem of most leaf-mosses (Bryopsida) looks alike:




Enjoy!

[rjlittlefield]

Images a-e are a really interesting series! They remind me of that "powers of 10" film. Image f is so different that I have to think hard to figure out what part of the moss it corresponds too.

--Rik

[ralfwagner]

Hello Rik,

look at pic a): There you see the leaf attached to the stem. Pic f) shows a cross-section of that stem. In order to obtain more contrast, this cross-section was stained with a mixture of some special blue and red dyes. This is what makes that pic real different. We call that mixture "Etzolds-dye" because Mr. Etzold introduced this method into microscopy. Hope that things are a bit clearer now.

[Charles Krebs]

Ralf,
Enjoyed this series of photos. When viewed with the microscope mosses can be very beautiful. Many times while searching for "critters" I will come upon a fragment of moss and spend a great deal of time studying it.

[Adrian]

the cells look very intriguing, youve captured them very well.

im abit of a micro newbie, but i find it all so facinating, are those green cells inside the chloroplast the chlorophyll?

thanks for sharing.

[ralfwagner]

Hello Adrian,

that round green dots inside cells are the chloroplasts and the chlorophyll molecules inside the chloroplasts make them look green. But you can't see the chlorophyll seperately, it is too small.

[Adrian]

ahhh, thank you.