The study of plant morphology and plant cells in the scanning electron microscope is often compromised by the limitations of specimen preparation techniques. Air drying usually results in unacceptable shrinkage and distortion of the normal surface morphology of plant cells. Chemical fixation followed by critical point drying or chemical drying using fluorocarbon compounds improves morphological results but still imparts artifacts, adds chemical constituents to the specimen, and requires the use of toxic chemicals, a hood, and much time.

One technique that eliminates many of these disadvantages and is even suitable for specimen preparation in the field is tissue printing. For easy, quick recording of stem anatomy and collection of cell exudates for subsequent analysis, its “elegant simlicity” is compelling. Historically, the application of tissue printing has been in connection with optical microscopy. However, this technique works very well for SEM and associated elemental characterization of residues by x-ray microanalysis. The tissue print technique applied to SEM is much the same as for optical microscopy.