Tangential section of wood of Chinese holly. This is how it looks like when you do a cut that’s perpendicular to the radius of the stem. The vertical lines are vessels transporting water from roots to leaves, while the circles are clustered ray cells that function to transport fluids and nutrients radially and laterally (perpendicular to the long axis) within a woody stem. Contributed by … Continue reading Holly Wood Tangential Section

Microscope image of the epidermis of a spiderwort leaf with well-organized stomata in high density. Stomata (singular stoma) are like little mouths on the leaf surface, specialized in gas-exchange – CO2 enters a plant through them. The opening and closure of stomata are tightly controlled, because when stomata are open, water is escaping from the plant too. Therefore, each plant needs to find a delicate … Continue reading Monocot Leaf Epidermis

Lower leaf epidermis of the stonecrop plants showing puzzle shaped epidermal cells with scattered stomata. Stomata (singular: stoma) are like little mouths on the leaf surface, specialized in gas-exchange – CO2 enters a plant through them. The pairs of sausage-shaped cells, like the lips of these mouths, are “guard cells”, which guard the opening and closure of the stomata. In many flowering plants, the stomata … Continue reading Dicot Leaf Epidermis