A NEW KIND OF CRYSTAL IN PLANT CELLS

In the paper,the shape and size of the crystal of Coelopleurum saxatile(Turcz. )Drude are studied This kind of crystal is different from other druses in shape, its shape is similar to feather. It is reported as a new kind of crystal.The leaf and stem cells of C. saxatile contain alarge number of feathershaped crystals. The crystals exist not only in stem epidermis, cortex, parenchyma and primary phloem,but also in leaf epidermis, palisade parenchyma and spongy parenchyma. However, they are not found in the pith cells.The analysis shows that the kind of crystal is the calcium oxalic crystal. They can he observed in vacuous and cytoplasm. Tile crystals exist in cells resembling each other. Some feather-crystals are much smaller than the cells that contain them, some occupy completely the cells and sometimes even deform the cells. The largest feather-shaped crystal is about 60×37μm.