Impression Methods for the Study of the Distribution of Deposits and Organisms on Plant Surfaces

Abstract

THE use of transmitted illumination in microscopic studies of chemical or biological material on plant surfaces is limited by the opaqueness of the plant tissues. The methods described by Crisp and Thorpe¹ and Bryson² for obtaining transparent impressions of various surfaces in gelatin and cellulose acetate respectively have been successfully applied to the study of deposits on leaf surfaces. Such impressions can be readily enlarged and examined visually or photographically; simple 35-mm. projection, provides ample magnification for general distribution studies of materials on plants, but for more detailed studies much higher magnification can be used.