Fern sorus

pwnell · Post by **pwnell** » Sun Jan 20, 2013 5:54 pm

I found the last fern in our forest with some sori still attached. I like how the spores show up brightly under fluorescence. Here is my interpretation of this fascinating structure.

Fern sori with dispersed spores, 4x * 1.6, DF+Epi, Stack of 83 images

Fern sori with dispersed spores, 4x * 1.6, Fluorescence, Stack of 191 images

Fern spores and cells of leaf, 10x * 1.6, DF

Fern spores and cells of leaf, 10x * 1.6, Fluorescence

ScottH · Post by **ScottH** » Sun Jan 20, 2013 10:41 pm

Great series of shots.

Chris S. · Post by **Chris S.** » Sun Jan 20, 2013 11:36 pm

Lovely, Waldo! And here I thought that sori ceased to be photogenic after the spores were released.

Especially interesting to me (and visually striking) is how the guard cells of the stomata each have a spot that does not fluoresce. I'm no expert in stomata--though have been acquiring an interest in them lately--and wonder what those spots are. I may point a plant physiologist toward your shots with a question or two. Since I'm sure they will ask, could you let us know the excitation and barrier frequencies of your filters?

Also, any idea what fern it is? In my area, we have rather few fern species that stay green all winter, and yours doesn't look like any of them. But where you live, you surely have a very different fern flora.

Cheers,

--Chris

pwnell · Post by **pwnell** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 12:34 am

Thanks. Excitation was between 330nm and 480nm, barrier was a long pass at 495nm.

No idea on the species of fern, but they are very common here in vancouver's temperate rainforests where they are always green.

Pau · Post by **Pau** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 1:25 am

Nice series, the second picture is really special.

Wim van Egmond · Post by **Wim van Egmond** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 1:26 am

Beautyful images Waldo. I also loved your fluo marine organisms. The second one is realy spectacular!

Wim

Jean-marc · Post by **Jean-marc** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 3:11 am

Hi,

Just to say that all your last posts those days are beautiful !

Jean-Marc

harisA · Post by **harisA** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 5:27 am

Second image is very beautiful.

naturephoto1 · Post by **naturephoto1** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 7:45 am

Waldo,

Another excellent and well done set.

Rich

pwnell · Post by **pwnell** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 12:14 pm

Jean-marc wrote:Just to say that all your last posts those days are beautiful !

What!? My older posts are ugly???

Thanks for the kind words.

pwnell · Post by **pwnell** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 1:47 pm

Chris, maybe this helps a bit. It is a larger view of the guard cells.

Also, the fern is most likely a Bracken Fern - Pteridium aquilinum.

discomorphella · Post by **discomorphella** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 2:22 pm

Gorgeous. My ferns in this part of the NW are a bit snow/ice covered at this point in the coast range.

Regards,

Dave

p.s. Glad you decided to get the U-CA? Grin.

pwnell · Post by **pwnell** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 2:28 pm

discomorphella wrote:Gorgeous. My ferns in this part of the NW are a bit snow/ice covered at this point in the coast range.

Regards,

Dave

p.s. Glad you decided to get the U-CA? Grin.

As I said, that was the only fern left in my forest with spores left! I was lucky... This is where I get many of my samples. Most of the snow had gone now though.

And yes - very happy with the U-CA. I do however only use it for 4x, 10x and sometimes 20x as those are the only objectives with which I get any real resolution benefit based on the pixel pitch of my sensor and the NA of the objectives, but still, really happy with it.

Jacek · Post by **Jacek** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 11:52 pm

beautiful

Chris S. · Post by **Chris S.** » Tue Jan 22, 2013 12:00 am

Waldo, thank you for the closeup! I've returned to look at it several times since you posted it. I'll be interested to hear what my botanist friends have to say.

Pteridium aquilinum, huh? That's common in my area, too--but is certainly not green right now (of course, we have snow here). I take it that the sori are along the leaf margins?

Cheers,

--Chris