The standard endospore stain is a vigorous staining procedure using Malachite (măl' -ë- kīt') Green as the main stain and Safranin as a counter stain (other counter stains may be used but we will ignore them for simplicity). Endospores are a bacterial structure for survival that do not readily allow stains to get in or attach to the spore. Heat or steam is used to get Malachite Green into the endospores (and the vegetative cells as well. All but one species that produce endospores have vegetative bacilli.) The slide is them washed with water. As Malachite Green is a water soluble stain, it washes out of vegetative cells, but not out of the endospores. Safranin is then applied, which stains the vegetative cells redish (it is unable to get into the endospores). If the species produces endospores, one will likely see roundish green endospores and redish rods. If the species does not produce endospores, one will only see redish vegetative cells.