Global eye

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At first glance this image might look like an abstract painting of a queue of people, but in actuality this is the light micrograph of a section of a marram grass (Ammophila arenaria) leaf. Found in coastal areas on sand dunes, the survival of this species of grass is dependent on its ability to optimally intake water and store it. Marram grass traps moist air into its leaves, collecting water through the hair-like structures and moving it throughout the plant through the xylem vessels (green). Using a microscope technique called incident fluorescence with ultraviolet excitation, this image distinguishes between the xylem vessels and sugarcarrying phloem (blue) to reveal the grass’s delicate, yet eerie internal structure.