Fig. 6.3-5b.
Magnification of chestnut (Aesculus) shoot apical meristem. For some
reason, all cells here are slightly plasmolyzed except for the tunica and the
central mother cells. Typically, the central mother cell zone can be difficult
to for a beginner to identify, but this CMC zone is very obvious. The two views
of the peripheral zone (remember, there is only one peripheral zone, we are just
seeing a left and right cut through one doughnut-shaped structure) are both
short, being only four to eight cells long from CMC zone to the base of the leaf
primordia. Just below the CMC zone are the cells of the pith-rib meristem.