Remarkable images show the intricacy and beauty of common plants

Photographer Jan Martinek

THESE are plants like you have never seen them before. Vibrant, diverse and possessing an almost microbe-like quality, these images of plant cells were taken by Jan Martinek at Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic.

As a plant cell biologist, Martinek is interested in the mechanisms that allow cells to shape themselves into the distinctive structures seen here. “Many of the images that I captured during my research also have some aesthetic qualities, so… I decided to share them on my Instagram account to promote science to the public,” he says.

His account, @plant_microverse, showcases the intricacy and beauty of plant cells and molecules using mainly fluorescence microscopy. This employs fluorescent dyes and specific wavelengths of light to illuminate cells and molecules – making what is normally invisible suddenly visible, says Martinek.

The main image above shows the minute details of the roots of Arabidopsis thaliana, a small weed that is widely used as a model organism in research, for example in the study of genetics. The second image above is a hollyhock pollen grain viewed using a confocal microscope, a kind of fluorescence microscopy that maximises optical resolution and contrast.

The following images show cross-sections that reveal the inner “plumbing” of two plants: the rhizome – an underground stem from which roots and shoots protrude – of a common reed is shown below

The hollow stalk of a barley plant is shown below. The fluorescent blue indicates lignin, a polymer that provides the “backbone” for plant cell walls, and the red marks areas of active photosynthesis.