Drawing Leaf Structure
- You will be expected to identify the following structures in the leaf of a dicotyledonous plant:
- Chloroplasts
- Cuticle
- Guard cells
- Stomata
- Upper and lower epidermis
- Palisade mesophyll
- Spongy mesophyll
- Air spaces
- Vascular bundles (xylem and phloem)
Structure of Leaf Diagram
Diagram showing the transverse section of a leaf
Drawing a plan diagram
- Plan diagrams are drawings made from micrographs or from viewing specimens under a low magnification
- Keep the following in mind when drawing a plan diagram:
- No individual cells are drawn, only tissue layers enclosed by lines should be present
- Pay attention to the distribution of tissue throughout the plant organ
- Use a sharp pencil and draw clear, continuous lines
- Do not shade any part of your drawing
- Make sure your proportions and observations are accurate
- Draw what you actually see, not what you would expect to see from a textbook
- Draw your drawing big enough to fill up at least half the available space
- When labelling your plan diagram remember to:
- Use a ruler to draw label lines, not freehand
- Avoid using arrowheads and make sure the label lines stop at the structure
- Make sure label lines do not cross each other
- Write all labels horizontally, not at different angles
Worked example
The following micrograph shows a transverse section of a dicotyledonous leaf.
Draw a labelled plan diagram of this micrograph.
By Berkshire Community College Bioscience Image Library, Public domain, Wikimedia
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