It shows cellular leaf detail of the common water plant Myriophyllum, the water milfoil. Ron remarks that the image 'was captured using a Leitz Heine condenser, 10x eyepiece and a 12x apo Leitz objective'. The water milfoil has whorls of feathery leaves. Its long trailing stems are usually found submerged in slow and still-moving water. Myriophyllum, as well as being attractive to study in their own right, frequently have a wide range of epiphytic freshwater life of interest to the microscopist.
Image right shows the spiked water milfoil.
Image derived by D.Walker from Fig. 49 in 'Freshwater Aquaria' by Rev. G. C. Bateman, 2nd edition, 1904. Comments by e-mail are welcomed to Ron Neumeyer . Published in the December 2000 edition of Micscape Magazine. Please report any Web problems or offer general comments to the Micscape Editor , via the contact on current Micscape Index.