Milky fluid on leaf

Walter Piorkowski · Post by **Walter Piorkowski** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 8:52 pm

Milky fluid on leaf

Leitz Ortholux
Brightfield
Leitz 40X Apo
10XGF projection eyepiece plus 1/3X relay lens
Canon 10D
Photoshop

My wife asked me to analyze a drop of white fluid found on the leaf of her mother in law tongue house plant. I made a smear on a slide of the material. I still have no idea of what it is but it made an interesting image to share.

Walt

bernhardinho · Post by **bernhardinho** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 3:38 am

Hi Walter,

try iodine or polarized light. They're either oildrops or starch.

Bernhard

beetleman · Post by **beetleman** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 5:48 am

Your mother-in-law let you swab her tongue, put it under the scope and post it on the internet for all to see

I don`t think she will let you put iodine on her tongue like Bernhard suggests, that will make it red for days

. They do look like perfect little spheres. Great photos of an unknown (only kidding about the in-law

)

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 6:19 am

Pretty nice shots there Walt.

Bernhard is probably right about the starch and oils. As for Dougs comment, tell your mother-in-law, Doug resides in the state of NH and it should not be hard to find out where he lives in the civil directory.

gpmatthews · Post by **gpmatthews** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 1:01 pm

Interesting - I suspect the milky fluid may be a latex, so the drops would be oily, rather than starch. The latter should go blue with iodine.

Walter Piorkowski · Post by **Walter Piorkowski** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 2:08 pm

Thank you all for your replies, except maybe Doug

I won't be able to try your tests, as the sample has been destroyed. I'm sure the plant will do it again. We'll give it a try then.

Walt

bernhardinho · Post by **bernhardinho** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 2:55 pm

gpmatthews wrote:Interesting - I suspect the milky fluid may be a latex, so the drops would be oily, rather than starch. The latter should go blue with iodine.

Well, that depends very much on the plant we're talking about. Not all of them produce latex, but many feature milky liquids (like Euphorbia, for instance)

Bernhard

gpmatthews · Post by **gpmatthews** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 6:10 pm

I think that starch is generally produced and stored in root and other storage structures, whereas leaves are more likely to exude latex/sap, but it really needs an iodine colour test or polarised light. Even in the absence of such a test, I would expect some of the round structures to have a visible hilum if they were starch, but I cannot see any, although that does not mean for certain they are not there... you could try a gentle prick on a leaf surface to see whether there might be another sample offered suitable for tests.

I will have to see whether anyone I know has a similar plant (or a mother-in-law) that can be tested.