201July 9 1 1

It turns out that when I was visiting the medicine market, I went to buy scented tea with Teacher Lu. I weighed a large bag of self-styled "dark red roses" for ten dollars.

As the name implies, the rose "flower" has a deep purple corolla arranged in circles on the receptacle, which is in sharp contrast with the gray-green sepals. The corolla in the middle is closed. After peeling, a large number of stamens will be found inside, among which the anthers are yellow and the filaments are the same color as the corolla. I don't know if it is because the filaments are soaked in water and impregnated with the pigment in the corolla.

After soaking in a cup, I found the magical change process of this rose tea-as soon as the rose entered the water, it dyed the water dark blue, then the blue faded and the tea turned brown. In the process of soaking in water, the deep purple of the corolla gradually receded, but the water never showed deep purple, even a little pale rose!

Teacher Lu also shared this magical change with me. With the attitude of finding and solving problems, I immediately hope to see this magical rose in the microscopic world. Even though it is difficult to see the tiny structure of plant pigment under the optical microscope, I hope I can make it myself and see it with my own eyes.

I have an appointment with Mr. Lu. Tonight, Zhao Cheng and I wet two dark red roses and took them to the laboratory to start making temporary slices for observation.

Although the rose petals soaked in water are softer and smoother than before, it is still very difficult to take samples with a blade. Observing under the microscope, the section is still very thick, and several layers of cells are stacked together in the field of vision, so it is impossible to observe. Zhao Cheng, who has hands like a clever woman, finally took down an extremely thin sample, which was infiltrated with chloral hydrate and placed under the mirror to make the fiber structure of rose petals clear at a glance.

At this point, we have given up the "delusion" of observing pigments under the optical microscope and turned to observe other fiber structures. And our fingers are covered with the pigment falling off the petal surface. The magic is the purple corolla, but the color left in our hands is dark blue. Teacher Lu said that she had checked the information, and that "turning blue" may be due to the problem of pH, not because it contains blue pigment.

In that film, we saw oil cells, ducts and many pollen grains. Among them, there is a cell with dense keratin texture, which is the first time we have seen this structure. I think it's similar to cells with thickened cuticular cell walls. Some cells are like "hanging grapes" and contain calcium carbonate stalactite crystals, but most of them exist in leaf surface cells, and their sizes do not match (Figure 1).

After the experiment, I went directly to the library to look up the information. I hope I can directly find the microscopic identification of rose corolla, which will be much easier. However, it has been proved more than once that obtaining information is not a simple matter. I consulted the annals of traditional Chinese medicine and the national compilation of Chinese herbal medicines, and both of them have a kind of "rose", but there is no microscopic identification; I looked up various versions of pharmacognosy, because there were microscopic identification parts of various medicinal materials, but unfortunately roses were not included.

After carefully scanning a wide range of books, I finally saw a small book called Microscopic Identification of Chinese Herbal Medicine Powder, and I took it out and read it skillfully. This book is classified by medicinal parts. I found flowers, but I found that roses were not included. I thought it was difficult to turn to a book about "microscopic identification" and how to find out the similarities with the microstructure of roses from the microstructure of other flowers.

Sure enough, it was found that the microstructure of more than one flower medicine was similar to that I saw in the temporary section of rose corolla. It is inferred that the structural diagram 1 seen in the field of vision is "corolla epidermal cells". (The book specifically illustrates the microstructure of plum blossom, because it belongs to Rosaceae, and its microstructure is very similar. )

The relevant contents of this book are now included as follows:

The epidermal cells of the corolla of Camptotheca grandiflora look like. On the surface, it is a polygon or a long polygon, and the outer flat peripheral wall protrudes on the side.

Surface morphology of epidermal cells in chrysanthemum corolla. Slightly extended, wavy and radial; The outer wall of the side surface is convex and has longitudinal strip texture.

The surface of epidermal cells in the corolla of plum blossom. )Sieb。 et Zucc。 It is polygonal, and the vertical wall is wavy. On the side, the outer wall of the cell is convex and has irregular and dense keratin texture.

The surface of epidermal cells of Buddleja officinalis. It is rectangular, square or polygonal, and the epidermal cells at the edge of the corolla are fluffy and have fine keratin texture.

The surface of epidermal cells in the corolla of Sophora japonica is polygonal or irregular, with fine curved keratin texture on the surface. The outer wall of the side surface protrudes outward, or slightly mastoid, and the edge is microwave-like.

During the observation, we saw the threaded catheter. But there are some unusual problems. In medicinal botany, it is pointed out that "the threaded catheter exists in the tender part of plant organs", which is different from the mature rose crown. Moreover, there are two spiral filiform substances at both ends of the threaded catheter in the field of vision, and the catheter is formed by winding two such substances. "The spiral thickening part of the threaded catheter" indicates that the formation mode of the threaded catheter is related to the uneven thickening of the cell wall. "The catheter is composed of most long, tubular dead cells, and the transverse walls at the upper and lower ends penetrate to form large perforations", which is also different from the structure seen in the field of vision. Because this structure is similar to DNA double helix structure, although it is larger than DNA double helix structure, the author temporarily invented it as "DNA-like structure" (Figures 2 and 3).

As can be seen from Figure 2 and Figure 3, the two "DNA-like structures" are spiral at both ends and "zipper-like" at a certain node, so it is difficult for blood vessel molecules at both ends of the structures to find large transverse wall perforations. Therefore, the author thinks that the substance is not a threaded catheter, and will continue to consult the information and make temporary sections to confirm this view.

Our experiment aroused the interest of students who carried out pollen experiments in the laboratory. Comrade Xiaoya took off two stamens and made a temporary slice. There are many yellow round pollen grains in the field of vision.

Teacher Lu found an oil cell with several large oil droplets around it. There are some tiny green particles in the oil cells, which I mistook for chlorophyll or some kind of pigment.

It may be impurities or grotesque water droplets. I feel like a hedgehog, and Zhao Cheng feels like a rabbit. We showed great interest in this strange little thing.

I was a little shy before doing the experiment, or a little worried about disturbing others. When you walk into the laboratory and see students doing pollen experiments, you will feel that your interest will affect their experiments. But Comrade Xiaoya told me that it would not affect us, and she would make a movie with us. She also told me, "Bring us more flowers and look at the pollen of all kinds of flowers."

I am very grateful to Teacher Lu and the "Pollen Calendar Project Team" for their support and help, which enabled me to complete this interest experiment. Thank you, ingenious Zhao Cheng, for accompanying me to finish this experiment.

References:

[1] Xu. Microscopic identification of Chinese herbal medicine powder [M]. Beijing: People's Health Publishing House, 1986: 332-397.

[2] Huang Baokang. Medicinal botany [M]. Beijing: People's Health Publishing House, 20 16: 24.