Hi! I am hoping that someone could help me identify what part of a plant this microscope image is showing. This is, believe it or not, is a recovered cuticle from material deposited 44 million years ago into ancient river channels off the present south coast of the UK. Many of the other plant remains are similar to laurels / magnolias, and fusain (charcoal) fragments under an SEM microscope show cross-field pits that are similar to Sequoia sp. The environment would have been warm and wet ... I am rewriting my thesis for publication and never really got a good answer on what part of a plant this is from. The fragment is actually 3 dimensional, appearing like a continuous 'cone' just under 1mm long. The intact end has a thicker, rounded profile. The presence of stomata seem to indicate that it is part of a leaf, but as this is intact it is much smaller than any of the macrofossils found in the samples. Anyway, I am not a botanist - so I am hoping that someone on the forum can look at this and know what it is from! As I say, I am more after the part of the plant as the species is likely long extinct! Thanks, Andy
Dear Andy Randall 1. Is that the best image you have? 2. Could you show another image of something you do have identified? (just to compare the imaging technique) 3. In order to receive an accurate reply, how accurate is that "material deposited 44 million years ago" date record. 4. Could you show the scale of images, what size does it have? Good luck with your thesis!
