Spirogyra Under the Microscope
Spirogyra (Whole Mount), Spirogyra
This is Spirogyra, a thread-like green alga, mounted whole and stained with fast green. Its spiral chloroplasts are among the most recognizable structures in biology class.
A whole mount preparation of Spirogyra (Spirogyra W.M.) stained with Fast Green, showing long, unbranched filamentous green algae. Microscopic examination of individual cylindrical cells reveals the distinctive helical or spiral ribbon-like chloroplasts embedded within the cytoplasm, lined with small pyrenoid bodies involved in starch synthesis. This slide serves as a classic model for demonstrating charophyte algal morphology, photosynthetic organelle arrangement, and vegetative structure.
What to look for
- Filaments: Long, unbranched threads made of cells joined end to end.
- Cells: Cylinder-shaped cells, with walls marking where one ends and the next begins.
- Spiral chloroplasts: Ribbon-shaped chloroplasts that twist in a spiral along the inside of each cell.
- Pyrenoids: Small round bodies spaced along the chloroplast ribbon, where starch is made.
- Nucleus: A nucleus near the middle of each cell, held in place by thin strands of cytoplasm.
At each magnification
Low power (about 4x)
Long thin threads crossing the slide.
Medium power (about 10x)
The cells in each filament and the spiral pattern inside them.
High power (about 40x)
The pyrenoids along the chloroplast ribbon and the nucleus in the center of the cell.
Questions and answers
What does Spirogyra look like under a microscope?
Spirogyra looks like long green threads made of cylinder-shaped cells. Inside each cell is a ribbon-shaped chloroplast that winds in a spiral, dotted with small round pyrenoids.
How does Spirogyra reproduce?
Spirogyra can grow by breaking into pieces that keep growing. It can also reproduce sexually by conjugation, when two filaments line up side by side, form bridges between cells, and the contents of one cell move into the other.
- Category
- Botany & Plants
- Scan magnification
- 20x
- Stain
- Fast Green
- Tags
- Spirogyra whole mount, Spirogyra W.M., Spirogyra, green algae, filamentous algae, charophyte
Viewing this slide in class
This is a scan of a real prepared slide, not a simulation or a drawing. On StudyScope you can pan from the whole slide down to individual structures, always in focus, and measure them in real micrometers with the calibrated ruler. Present it live and every student screen follows your view and annotations. Students join with a room code on Chromebooks, iPads, or any browser, with no accounts.