What in the (microscopical) world?

What could these curious shapes be? Have a look and test your microscopical knowledge.

Did your thoughts immediately go to the footprints of some small animal? Or perhaps you saw juicy red strawberries with their abundant seeds. And some rubber O-rings thrown in?

Well, not quite.

This image is actually a cross section of bamboo shoots. The pinkish-red color comes from Phloroglucinol, a stain which acts as a test for lignin.

Microtrace uses a wide-variety of microscopical techniques to classify or identify wood, which may arrive as a large sample, a splinter, or even a paper fiber. Our lab maintains a large collection of  both common and rare woods, as well as a wide range of texts and references focusing on the identification of such materials. Over the years, we have brought in world-renowned experts and have adapted the principles of wood identification to the specialized range of requests encountered at our lab, which quite often contain wood or some processed form of wood.

Whether the sample requires identification of a material as wood, identification of a genus or species (when possible), or characterization of some processed form of wood (such as paper or a wood product), Microtrace scientists have the experience and expertise to solve your problem. In addition, Microtrace scientists specialize in the identification of other botanical materials such as plant tissue, food ingredients, paper, and pollen.

To learn more about how Microtrace can help with your project, please contact us.

How May We Help You?