FROM mighty maples to small shrubs, woody plants are even more striking when viewed from the inside. Hidden beneath the bark is a lush world of cells that reveal the secrets of these plants.
The image above shows a form of plant warfare, magnified 400 times. The large blue objects are root-like structures from the parasitic plant mistletoe penetrating the wood of a maple tree. Along one of the tree rings are red and green dots, which are chemicals produced by the tree to prevent further mistletoe invasion.
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To create this coloured close-up of tree cells, the wood was thinly sliced and then stained to highlight the main tissues: lignin in red and cellulose in blue. It is part of a collection of images of woody plants from diverse environments 鈥� more of which are shown on the following two pages 鈥� put together by Alan Crivellaro at the University of Cambridge. 鈥淚 experience the beauty of these images every day and I want to share them with other people,鈥� he says.
Crivellaro studies how plants change their anatomy according to their growing conditions. He also uses magnified images of wood cells to identify illegally traded timber and to investigate archaeological remains.
Photographers,
Alan Crivellaro and Fritz Schweingruber
