Imaging of biological samples: crassula arborescens

One of the tasks of modern botany is to describe the relationship between climatic conditions and other environmental factors and the anatomical structure and adaptation of species present in given geographic areas. The work [1] focuses on anatomical and morphological studies of leaves of plants from the coarse family. Species tested belong to leaf succulents, therefore microscopic examinations were performed on these organs in order to link their structure with the water management of the plant. There are several types of specialized cells, such as those that form hydathodes, i.e. organs responsible for removing excess water. Imaging was performed with magnifications ranging from 20 to 12,600 times using an optical and electron microscope. The presented set contains the results of a different type of imaging, performed with the use of AFM in the semicontact mode, on the surface of leaves collected from the crassula arborescens. The images correspond to magnifications in the range of 1000 to 20000x, which may complement the results obtained with the use of complementary microscopic techniques. The set contains 10 images, obtained in the half-shell mode with the use of the NSG30 probe.
Reference:
[1] A. Moteetee, C.R. Nagendran, Comparative anatomical studies in five southern African species of Crassula: II. Structure of the leaf and the occurrence of transfer cells, South African Journal of Botany, 63(2) (1997) 95-99.