Abstract

An ordinary paraffin section method has been generally used for a variety of anatomical and histological studies of vascular plants. Recently, however, a semithin section method, which was originally developed for transmission electron microscopy, has been widely applied because of clearness of figures obtained. Materials embedded in Spurr's low-viscosity resin are cut at a thickness of 1-2μm, stained with toluidine blue 0, and observed under a light microscope. The procedures of the semithin section method I employed for a morphogenetic study of Selaginella rhizophores are reported here. Another section method using water-miscible methacrylate(Technovit 7100)is also useful for sectioning of relatively large materials. These methods were useful in recent anatomical studies of Selaginella rhizophores and leguminous seed coats.