Thank you all for your kind comments ! :D It took 3 years to complete the DIC equipment. I use a Leica DMLB Microscope with infinity corrected optics. I looked around at all local representatives here to get some used parts for DIC. Some parts came from ebay USA, and one part from my friend in Frank...

what a wonderful alga, perfectly composed by nature.
I like these creatures so much, but they are so rare.......
Objective 40x, 6 images stacked with CombineZ 5, DIC.
Thanks for looking,
Gerd

Bean hair again, see my post yesterday.
This one in DIC, you can see some stomata, too.
Objective 40x,
Thanks for looking,
Gerd

http://www.online-club.de/~rp11141/mpictures/bohne-pol.jpg hairs on the lower side of pole bean leafs. When you work with pole beans, in the moment i'm harvesting the last ones, often leafs adhere on my clothing. The reason for that are these small hairs, formed like a Velcro fastener. Objective 40...

Thank you, Ken. If you work outside all day long handling these several plants, you begin to ask yourself, what is the reason for this or for that behaviour...... I always try to see nature more with the eyes of a little child than through the eyes of science. Botanical view comes automatically, whe...

Hello Dominique,
absolutely stunning images ! Wonderful details and superb contrast with great
colours ! Can you tell me, what is the principle, you use here ?
Which optical components did you use ?
Gerd

thank you all for the positive feedback !
Thanks Dominique for the ID help. I will try to get more details of these shells,
but at the moment it`s crop time here, i hope i find some time anyway...........
Gerd

sessile diatoms, could it be gomphonema spp ? They are rather long, about 70-80 µm.
Objective 40x, DIC. 8 images stacked with heliconfocus.
Thanks,
Gerd

http://www.online-club.de/~rp11141/mpictures/moehre1.jpg thin section through the border area of a carrot. In this area you find lots of carotene bodies, these small orange needles (according to new research findings these bodies are no crystals). Carotene is the precursor to Vitamin A. Enjoy your ...

thin section through a potato tuber. Since potatoes have a elliptic or round shape, a thin section shows the upper parts (just under the skin) at the outer circle of the section. The more you go to the center of the section, the more you see the inner cells. In the cells just under the skin of the t...

another hair out of a pumpkin bloom, with a
pollen grain. I squeezed the cover glass a little,
so the caps on the germination pores burst.
Objective 40x, DIC.
Thanks,
Gerd

http://www.online-club.de/~rp11141/mpictures/Kuerbishaare4.jpg this is a part of a hair you can find inside pumpkin blooms. These hairs are distributed on the epidermis on the bloom inside. The hairs consist of single cells, stringed together. Lots of yellow chromoplasts can be seen inside, transpo...

Hello Charles, thanks for the compliments. I'm using a small hand microtome and a 'bigger' microtome as well. I exclusively use disposable blades, manufactured by leica or feather and appropriate mounts. So you always get reproducible results cause of the perfect sharpening of each blade. Some time ...

a cross section through a pumpkin stem.
Lots of different hairs all over the surface.
Objective 20x, DIC, 6 images stacked.
Thanks,
Gerd

sorry, Ken, my description was a little incorrect. These hairs are distributed all over the green plant parts, such as blooms, leafs and stems. You have to take younger plant parts, on older parts or on the mellow pumpkins its self there are only dead hairs.... Zucchinii plants also have lots of hai...