Thin sections of plant cuticles demonstrating channels and wax platelets

Abstract

Channels, possibly sites of wax precursor transport in vivo, and plates resembling wax were observed in thin sections of the cuticle of young leaves of Plantago major. The channels, which averaged 2.5 nm in diameter, were perpendicular to the surface and traversed the entire thickness of the cuticle. Channels appeared equally dense in the cuticles of both leaf surfaces and did not appear preferentially associated with guard cells or over anticlinal walls. Thus far channels have been found only in P. major.Wax platelets, which were parallel to the surface, were found in Ardisia crenata and similar appearing areas were found in P. major. The plates were thicker than the channels and when plates and channels were present together as in P. major the two sometimes merged.