PLANT PRACTICAL

Plant Sectioning

● Always wet the blade & material to be sectioned.

● Ask for change of blade whenever blunt (easier to section with sharp blade).

● Spam sectioning for non-woody stems & fleshy roots (slice with circular motions as quickly as
possible, many times continuously).
● Slow sectioning for woody stems & hard roots (slice slowly with one continuous motion & as thinly
as possible).
● Glass slide sectioning for leaves (cut leaf into a small piece, sandwich piece between two glass slides,
pipette some water between the slides with dropper, move top glass slide away from leaf edge bit
by bit & slice vertically downwards, do NOT drag the blade otherwise you risk getting a stomata
peel).
● Longitudinal section: Slice stem into half longitudinally, cut the half of the stem into small enough a
piece to hold between your fingers, section as if you would for a transverse section of the stem just
that with the rectangular part of the stem (not the semicircular part) facing up.
● If you only need the sections for observation, i.e. if no submission for grading is required, do NOT
waste time sectioning as thinly as possible or staining perfectly. Just section thin enough and stain
well enough to be able to see the structures.
● If you have trouble sectioning a stem or root because it is hard, it likely contains layer(s) of
sclerenchyma.
● If desperate and running out of time, just slice off whatever section you can manage & submit it as
some marks are usually awarded for submission of something.

Learn to recognize the typical search images of the following sections:

Fern stems have vascular bundles surrounded by a ring of tissue (sclerenchyma

stained brown in this case).
 Equisetum has a stem which is hollow in the middle.

Psilotum has a star-shaped transverse section of the stem with a single star-
shaped vascular bundle in the centre of the stem (pink).

Selaginella has two obvious vascular bundles in the centre of the stem. The green
pointy structure attached to the stem is a microphyll.

Nymphaea has aerenchyma in the stem (hollow circles).

Kranz anatomy of C3 plant leaf; bundle sheath cells (cells with tinge of
dark green) surrounding vascular bundle. (Sorry my sectioning and staining isn’t very good haha; you can
do better!☺ )
Stomata Peel

● Forceps peel method (most advisable): Bend the leaf backward. Use the forceps of peel off the
epidermis (jagged part at edge of broken edge).
● Glass slide method: Cut leaf into small piece, sandwich between two glass slides, pipette some water
between the slides with dropper, move top glass slide away from leaf edge bit by bit & drag your
blade away from the edge of the glass slide while cutting downwards. You can obtain a single
epidermal layer of cells (picture below) using this method (vs the forceps peel method where you
will likely obtain a few layers of cells).

● Nail polish method: Apply a very thin layer of nail polish so that it dries quickly (too thick & the nail
polish will not dry at all). Ensure that the nail polish is completely dry before attempting to peel it
off for observation under the microscope (otherwise it will stretch, tear and be distorted).
● Stomatal density = number of stomata/leaf area in field of view.

● Stomatal index = number of stomata/total number of epidermal cells in field of view.

Tricks (BEWARE)

● Ginger & grass: The underground part that seems like a root is a rhizome (stem).

● Leaflet vs compound leaf: There is no axial bud at the base of each leaflet. There is only an axial bud
at the base of the petiole of the whole compound leaf.
● Gingko seed: The fleshy outermost layer is a part of the seed coat called the sarcotesta (NOT a
pericarp/fruit, gymnosperms do not have fruits). The hard, white second layer is the sclerotesta. The
innermost membranous layer is the endotesta.
● Dicots can have multiple rings of vascular bundles in the stem, do NOT mistake this for the randomly
arranged vascular bundles in the stem of a monocot.

Revise theory:

● Characteristics of C3 & C4 plants including graphs (note whether axis is labelled light intensity or
CO2 concentration).
● Characteristics of xerophyte, mesophyte, hydrophyte.

● Parts of a flower; how to write a floral formula.

● Parts of a fruit for gingko & angiosperms; types of fruit.