Vascular bundles can be seen very well in these cross-sectional views of a leaf stem of the fig tree, thanks to the Wacker 3A triple staining. This coloring is done with a mixture containing Astra blue, Acriflavin and Acridine red.
Due to the good uniform thickness of the coupe and the fine quality of the Moticam S12 camera, the photos could be taken without stacking.
Sundew or Drosera forms perfect rosettes to the ground and has red tentacles with a sticky, glittering droplet which is secreted by a gland. The flower owes its name to this. Small animals get stuck in the drop and are pushed by the moving tentacles to the leaf surface where they are digested.
Prepared slide by Lieder
The disease owes its name to the Austrian doctor Otto Kahler, who described the disease as one of the first. Kahler's disease, also called multiple myeloma, is a disease of the bone marrow caused by an uncontrolled proliferation of a certain type of white blood cells: plasma cells (also called plasmocytes). Plasma cells are responsible for the formation of antibodies under normal conditions.
The bone marrow is a spongy substance located in the interior of bones, especially the pelvis, sternum, ribs and vertebrae. Bone marrow plays a role in forming bones, but also in forming the cells of the blood: white blood cells (leucocytes), red blood cells (erythrocytes) and platelets (thrombocytes). The disease develops in one abnormal plasma cell, which divides uncontrollably and whose offspring also divides uncontrollably. Since they are all related, they only synthesize one specific type of antibody (or part of it). Since antibodies are proteins, the antibody produced is referred to as the "M protein" (from Myeloma protein). The name paraprotein is also commonly used for the M protein. When a specific piece (called “light chain”) of a paraprotein is found in the urine (or blood serum), it is called the Bence-Jones protein.
Dilated scalewort or Frullania dilatata grows mainly as a pioneer on trees with a moderately nutrient-rich bark. The species is somewhat drought-tolerant and can be found on free-standing trees, except in forests. Especially in full sun, the plants have their characteristic rust brown color. This moss experienced a decline in the last century due to air pollution, but is now common in almost all parts of The Netherlands. It is an attractive species, which is not easily overlooked in inventories. As a result, the distribution picture does suggest a greater number of occurrences than is actually the case: regularly there is only a single find per square section of land of 1 x 1 km.
Tempskya is an extinct genus of tree-shaped ferns, the fossils of which have so far only been found in Cretaceous layers. The Cretaceous is a geologic period and system that spans 79 million years from the end of the Jurassic period 145 million years ago to the beginning of the Paleogene period 66 million years ago.
