Plant debris (vascular bundle)

[SteveSteve]

Hi,

I have been looking at some composted plant material and most of the tissue has gone completely but I have noticed that the vascular bundles seem to be the most resistant. Here is one example cropped from a 20x view.

The ground tissue has all gone and this is the fraying end of the vascular bundle. There is a single xylem cell looking like an escaped spring.

I think that the object running from mid-right to top-left is one of the saprophytic fungi that was probably feeding on the tissues.



Cheers
Steve

[mrsonchus]

Nice & clear, interesting picture - a sort of 'biological clearing process', saves on chemicals too! An interesting observation, thanks for posting it.

[gekko]

Interesting post, and very clear image of xylem.

[zzffnn]

Very interesting. Thank you for sharing.