Australia's Science Forum

A teacher has just used the top surface of the leaves of the Yukka/Yucca plant to use with a junior class..
It is BRILLIANT.

The cells show much clearer than onion or any other plant source I have ever seen.
he stripped off the waxy top layer in LONG strands and used that! Did not need staining...
TRY it... be careful though the plants are vicious!

red onion is best also....I learnt that trick from the labbies workshops at St Marys
ezy peeze

Fishbone fern leaf works brilliantly. Just pull a small young leaf off the fron turn to the under side and place on a slide. No cutting or peeling. Stomates are great . Can sticky tape down if you want and thats it.

Our biology teacher makes slides of stomata by getting me to paint clear nail polish on the top side and underside of an agapanthus leaf. The students then peel off the nail polish and with it the top layer of cells showing the stomates.
By doing the top and bottom, they can compare the number of stomates on each side.