A microscope-CCD camera-system consisted of an optical microscope, a CCD camera with an image intensifier and a micro-computer was devised to examine in what manner light penetrates and induces fluorescence associated with photosynthesis in an intact leaf in relation to its morphology. A laser light (Ar, 477 & 488nm) was projected vertically on the leaf and distribution of laser-induced-fluorescence (LIF) in the leaf was examined. Projected light rapidly declined with distance from the surface of the leaf, and distribution patterns of fluorescence strongly depended on the leaf structures and wavelengths of detection. The apparatus devised is considered to be a useful tool to obtain information on damages of leaf functions as well as structures, such as by air pollution at microscopic level.
