LEAF MANDALA ́
Sorus fern, 20x
This colourful fan is a sorus, a structure
found on the underside of fern leaves.
Each panel in the fan is a spore-
containing ‘sporangium’, which releases
spores into the wind to be dispersed
and emits a fluorescent glow when lit
by high-intensity UV light. The specific
colouring of each section depends on
the developmental stage (age) of the
sporangium, accounting for the rich
colour palette seen in this image.
Rogelio Moreno Gill, PanamaPEERING OUT μ
Vascular bundles of Cyperus papyrus, 200x
These creepy little faces pop out of the cross-section of a papyrus
plant, popularly known for its use as a source of paper in Ancient
Egypt. Some plant cells in this image have been lit in pink using a
microscopic imaging technique known as ‘differential interference
contrast’, which uses polarised light to exaggerate small differences
in lighting and colour in transparent objects. Each ‘face’ outlines
a plumbing feature known as a vascular bundle, present in most
terrestrial plants, which carries water and nutrients around the
roots, stems and leaves.
Dr David Maitland, Feltwell, United KingdomCRAZY PAVING ́
Transverse section of an ostrich fern, 250x
Each ‘tile’ in this vivid mosaic is a cross-section of a plant cell
belonging to an ostrich fern, also known as a fiddlehead or
shuttlecock fern. Each of its descriptive names reflect the fern’s
distinctive upright posture and feather-like fronds. The cells
featured in this image transport water and nutrients around the
fern, and are common to almost all plants that grow on land. Unlike
flowering plants and conifers, however, which organise these cells
into regular clusters called ‘bundles’, ferns have stuck with the
slightly more freeform arrangement shown here.
Anatoly Mikhaltsov, Omsk, RussiaSCIENCE