Negative stain in wax tubes from the surface of Sitka spruce leaves

Abstract

Carbon replicas and scanning electron micrographs of wax outgrowths on some leaf surfaces have not shown conclusively whether the outgrowths are tubes or solid rods. Some workers have suggested that they are solid rods. We find that negative stains will penetrate into a cavity in the centre of wax outgrowths on leaves of Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis Bong. Carr) and Tulipa kaufmanniana Elliot. Thus these outgrowths appear to be tubes.