Plant Anatomy Microscope Slides
Plant anatomy from root tips to leaf cross-sections, pollen grains, and stem structures.
Every slide here is a scan of a real prepared specimen, not a simulation or a drawing. Pan from the whole slide down to individual cells, always in focus, and measure structures in real micrometers. Present a slide live and every student screen follows your view and annotations. Students join with a room code on Chromebooks, iPads, or any browser, with no accounts.
42 Botany & Plants slides
- Amaranth Stem (Longitudinal Section) Amaranthus: This is a longitudinal section of an amaranth stem (Amaranthus), cut along its length and stained with safranin and fast green. Because of the cut, the cells…
- Apical Bud (Longitudinal Section) Hydrilla verticillata: This is a longitudinal section of an apical bud from Hydrilla verticillata, a water plant, stained with safranin. The bud is the growing tip of a stem. Deep…
- Capsella bursa-pastoris Flower (Whole Mount) Capsella bursa-pastoris: This whole mount shows an entire shepherd's purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris) flower, stained green. The flower stalk, or pedicel, is at the top of the view…
- Capsicum Peel (Whole Mount) Capsicum annuum: This is a whole mount of pepper skin, the thin outer layer peeled from a Capsicum annuum fruit and stained with fast green. It is one sheet of epidermis, the…
- Chlamydomonas (Whole Mount) Chlamydomonas reinhardtii: This whole mount shows Chlamydomonas (Chlamydomonas reinhardtii), a single-celled green alga, stained with Fast Green. Thousands of tiny oval cells are spread…
- Corn Seed / Caryopsis (Longitudinal Section) Zea mays: This is a longitudinal section of a corn kernel (Zea mays), cut from top to bottom and stained with fast green. A corn kernel is a grain, a fruit with a…
- Corn Stem (Cross Section) Zea mays: This is a cross section of a corn stem (Zea mays), stained with Fast Green. Corn is a monocot, so its vascular bundles are scattered all through the stem…
- Cotton Leaf (Cross Section) Gossypium hirsutum: This is a cross section of a cotton leaf (Gossypium hirsutum), stained with Safranin and Fast Green, with a single layer of epidermis covering the top and…
- Cotton Root (Cross Section) Gossypium hirsutum: This is a cross section of a cotton root (Gossypium hirsutum), stained with safranin and fast green. The center is filled with large, round xylem vessels with…
- Fern Leaf (Cross Section) Polypodiopsida: This is a cross section of a fern leaf, or frond, stained with safranin. The thin leaf blade has a single layer of epidermis cells on each surface, with…
- Germinating Pollen (Whole Mount) Magnoliophyta: This whole mount shows pollen grains from a flowering plant, prepared to study pollen germination and stained with Safranin and Fast Green. The grains are…
- Jasminum nudiflorum Leaf (Transverse Section) Jasminum nudiflorum: This is a transverse section of a winter jasmine leaf (Jasminum nudiflorum), cut straight across the blade and stained with fast green. The upper and lower…
- Ligustrum lucidum Leaf (Transverse Section) Ligustrum lucidum: This is a cross section of a glossy privet leaf (Ligustrum lucidum), stained green with fast green. The leaf is folded into a V shape, with the midrib, the…
- Lily Leaf (Cross Section) Lilium: This is a cross section of a lily leaf (Lilium), stained with Safranin and Fast Green. A single layer of epidermis covers the top and bottom, with a thin waxy…
- Lily Pollen (Whole Mount) Lilium: This whole mount shows pollen grains from a lily (Lilium), stained with Safranin and Fast Green. The grains are large ovals, and the stains color some of them…
- Lower Epidermis of Broad Bean Leaf (Whole Mount) Vicia faba: This whole mount shows the lower epidermis, the thin skin on the underside of a broad bean (Vicia faba) leaf, stained with Fast Green. Most of the sheet is…
- Lower Epidermis of Tradescantia reflexa Leaf (Whole Mount) Tradescantia reflexa: This whole mount shows the lower epidermis, the thin outer skin, of a Tradescantia reflexa (spiderwort) leaf. The cells are long rectangles lined up in rows…
- Luffa Pollen (Whole Mount) Luffa aegyptiaca: This whole mount shows loose pollen grains from luffa (Luffa aegyptiaca), the plant whose dried fruit becomes a luffa sponge. The slide was stained with…
- Mature Lily Anther (Cross Section) Lilium: This is a cross section of a mature lily anther (Lilium), stained with safranin and fast green. The anther is the part of a flower that makes pollen, and here…
- Nerium indicum Leaf (Transverse Section) Nerium oleander: This transverse section of an oleander (Nerium oleander, also called Nerium indicum) leaf is stained with Safranin and Fast Green. Oleander grows in dry…
- Onion Epidermis (Whole Mount) Allium cepa: This is a whole mount of onion epidermis (Allium cepa), a thin skin peeled from an onion bulb layer and stained with fast green. It is only one cell thick…
- Orange Peel (Cross Section) Citrus sinensis: This is a cross section of an orange peel (Citrus sinensis), stained with safranin and fast green. The outer surface is a thin skin of small, tightly packed…
- Pine Cone Female (Longitudinal Section) Pinus: This is a longitudinal section of a female pine cone (Pinus), stained with fast green. A thick central axis runs through the cone, and many scales branch off…
- Pine Needle (Cross Section) Pinus: This is a cross section of a pine needle (Pinus), stained with safranin and fast green. The needle is covered by a thick, waxy cuticle and a layer of…
- Pine Pollen (Whole Mount) Pinus: This is a whole mount of pine pollen (Pinus), stained red and green with safranin and fast green. The grains are scattered across the slide, and each one is a…
- Pine Stem (Cross Section) Pinus: This is a cross section of a young pine stem (Pinus), stained with safranin and fast green. The center is the pith, made of large, thin-walled cells, and…
- Pine Young Staminate Cone (Longitudinal Section) Pinus: This is a longitudinal section of a young male (staminate) pine cone (Pinus), cut down its length and stained pink with safranin. A thick central axis runs up…
- Pittosporum tobira Leaf (Cross Section) Pittosporum tobira: This is a cross section of a Japanese cheesewood leaf (Pittosporum tobira), stained with safranin and fast green. This evergreen shrub has thick, leathery…
- Pumpkin Stem (Cross Section) Cucurbita pepo: This is a cross section of a pumpkin stem (Cucurbita pepo), stained green with fast green. The stem has a ridged, five-sided outline and a hollow center where…
- Radish Root (Cross Section) Raphanus sativus: This is a cross section of a radish (Raphanus sativus) taproot, stained with Fast Green. Most of the root is xylem, with wide, round vessels (tubes that carry…
- Rapeseed Flower Bud (Cross Section) Brassica napus: This cross section cuts across a rapeseed (Brassica napus) flower bud stained with Fast Green. The flower parts form rings, like a floral diagram in a…
- Rice Stem (Cross Section) Oryza sativa: This cross section of a rice (Oryza sativa) stem is stained with Fast Green. The stem is hollow, with a large open space in the middle and a thin ring of…
- Sago Cycas Leaf (Cross Section) Cycas revoluta: This is a cross section of a leaflet from the sago palm (Cycas revoluta), stained with safranin and fast green. The edges of the leaflet curl down and under…
- Spirogyra (Whole Mount) Spirogyra: This whole mount shows Spirogyra, a green alga that grows as long, unbranched threads called filaments. Each filament is a chain of cylinder-shaped cells…
- Sunflower Leaf (Cross Section) Helianthus annuus: This cross section of a sunflower (Helianthus annuus) leaf is stained with Safranin and Fast Green. Many hairs, called trichomes, stick out from the upper and…
- Sunflower Stem (Cross Section) Helianthus annuus: This cross section of a young sunflower (Helianthus annuus) stem is stained with Fast Green. It shows the classic dicot stem plan: a ring of vascular bundles…
- Sunflower Stem (Longitudinal Section) Helianthus annuus: This is a longitudinal section of a sunflower stem (Helianthus annuus), cut along its length and stained with safranin and fast green. The wide middle is the…
- Tilia Stem (Cross Section) Tilia: This is a cross section of a young basswood stem (Tilia), stained with fast green. At the center is the pith, a core of large, soft cells. Around it is a…
- Wheat Seed / Grain (Cross Section) Triticum aestivum: This is a section through a wheat grain (Triticum aestivum), stained with safranin and fast green. A thin outer coat, the pericarp and seed coat, wraps the…
- Wheat Stem (Cross Section) Triticum aestivum: This cross section of a wheat (Triticum aestivum) stem is stained with Fast Green. Like most grass stems, it is a hollow tube with a large empty space in the…
- Young Root of Broad Bean (Cross Section) Vicia faba: This is a cross section of a young broad bean (Vicia faba) root, stained with fast green. The outer edge is the epidermis, a single layer of cells that takes…
- Zea Root Tip (Longitudinal Section) Zea mays: This is a lengthwise (longitudinal) section of a corn root tip (Zea mays), stained pink with safranin. At the very end is the root cap, a pad of cells that…