シダレヤナギの葉の生長とシュウ酸カルシウム結晶形成の様式

抄録

The present experiment was carried out to obtain some information regarding formation mechanism of crystalline inorganic components in plants, using the "low-temperature plasma ashing method for biological materials" originated with K. Umemoto. The crystal image in a leaf was followed through its life cycle and difference in the life cycle to various tissue cells in the same plant was examined. The sample material was a leaf (minus the petiole) from weeping willow (Salix babylonica LINN.), measuring about 6 to 128 mm in length, collected during March to June in Kyoto city. The crystal image of calcium oxalate that appears with growth of the leaves was followed. It was thereby found that the crystal form of calcium oxalate that appears first in the willow leaf is an aggregate, and that solitary crystals appear after a certain period. In addition, the pattern of crystal distribution in the costa, mesophyll, apex, and margin of the leaves at different periods of observation was found to change markedly. Examination must be made in future on the correlation, if any, between this change in the pattern and physiology of the plants.