2.5. Determination of botanical aspects
The morphological characteristics of Typha sp. (i.e., the number
of leaves, size of the leaves, number of roots, longest root, dry
weight, and ash weight) were analyzed every 15 days over a 3
month period throughout the eight phases of the HRT evaluation to
determine morphological changes in the plant according to standard
practices. Histochemical studies of the roots of the macrophytes
were carried out to assess the impact of a high TDS and Cu
metal (His et al., 2001). Hand-cut cross sections of the root sample
were added to a 50% ethanol solution (v/v) and stained with a
safranin solution for 2 h. The sections were washed thoroughly in
distilled water for 5 min, transferred to a 95% ethanol solution and counterstained with a light green staining solution for 15 s. The
sample was rinsed in alcohol and examined by optical microscopy.