Under the Microscope: Sporophyll of Pteridium • Travis Hale (Photography and Science)

About:

This episode of Under the microscope focuses on the Sporophyll of Pteridium (Bracken). Pteridium is a genus of the family Dennstaedtiaceae, commonly known as either bracken or ferns.

Whilst a full write-up of these plants is not in the scope of this article, some information is provided;

Interestingly the ferns have alternating generations, one year the larger plants produce spores whilst the next year the younger plants produce sex cells (e.g. eggs and sperm).

The images below are of the Sporophyll of the bracken. The Sporophyll is a leaf that contains Sporangium which basically contains a structure where spores are produced.

How it was taken:

All of my “under the microscope” images are taken in a similar manner, and using the below equipment. In this case, focus stacking was conducted by capturing a video of the subject as I move through the planes of focus, and then software pulled the images out of that video and focus stacked them into the images below;