EXPERIMENT 5

AIM: To study the distribution ofstomata onupper and lowersurfaces ofleaf and to calculate the stomatal

index.

REQUIREMENTs
Fresh leaf of Petunia or any other herbaceous plant/fresh leaf of lily, forceps., needle, blade, brush,
watch glasses, petridish, beaker, glass slides, coverslips, safranine, glycerine, water, etc.
60

PROCEDURE
Comprehenoive Laboratory Manual in Bioloqv
Biology-X
Take out e and put
epidermal peels from the upper and lower surfaces of Petunia leaff and
wate
put them in
in separate watch be talken out by tearing the leaf obliquely
glasses. The peels can
wiith
S1ngle jerk or scraping it with blade.
tain the peels with safranin by adding a few drops of the strain in the watch glasses.
3. uta
Cut a small
sS rectangle or square piece from each peel and mount them in glycerine on
onsepara
separate
slides.
*Cover the peels with coverslips and observe them under the microscope.

Subsidiary cells
Subsidiary
cells
Stomata

Nucleus

Guard cells

Epidermal cells
B

Epidermal cells

Subsidiary cells

Ground cells

Fig.5.1. Stomata. A. Stomata in the epidermis of a dicot leaf (lower epidermis)

B. Single stoma; C. Stomata in the epidermis of a monocot leaf.

5. Count the number of stomata and the number of

epidermal cells in the peels of both upper
and lower epidermis of the leaf appearing in the microscopic field.
6 Similarly prepare the slides of the peels of lily leaf and count the number of stomata and the
number of epidermal cells in the microscopic field.
Core Experiment-5 61

7. Calculate the stomatal index of each surface of the leaf using the following formula:
Stomatal index = No. of stomata x 100.
No. of stomata + No. of
epidermal cells
OBSERVATION

In the leaf of Petunia, the number of stomata is more in the lower epidermis, and only few stomata
in the upper epidermis. However, the leaf of lily has almost equal number of stomata in
are present
both the epidermis.

PRECAUTIONS

1. The curling of the peel should be avoided.

2. Always use brush to transfer the peel from watch glass to the slide
3. Excess of glycerine should be removed by using blotting paper.