Whole plants at different developmental stages were fixed in
2.5% glutaraldehyde in 5 mM phosphate buffer for 3 h. After thoroughrinsing
withthe same buffer,the samples werepostfixedin1%
osmium tetroxide for 2 h, rinsed with the buffer and dehydrated in
graded ethanol series. The samples were then treated with absolute
acetone and embedded in Spurr resin (Sigma–Aldrich Inc., St. Louis,
USA) after careful infiltration with it. Semi-thin sections, 1 m
thick, were prepared with Microm HM 360 microtome (Microm
International GmbH, Walldorf, Germany) using a glass knife. These
sections were then stained with toluidine blue, observed and
photographed by Nikon Eclipse 80i microscope (Nikon Instruments
Inc., Tokyo, Japan). The general morphological overview of W.
microscopica plants at different stages of life cycle was captured
using a light microscope (Nikon SMZ1500 stereomicroscope with
a Nikon Digital Sight DS-SMc camera using Nikon NIS-Elements AR
3.0x software).