Chloroplasts are found in the cells of plants that conduct photosynthesis. They absorb sunlight and use it along with water and carbon dioxide gas (CO2) to produce food for the plant.

Nathaniel St André and his wife Elizabeth. Etching by W. Austin, 1773.

Diatom siliceous skeleton, Melosira

Partners in crime - chloroplasts and mitochondria

Power Plant

Ruscus aculeatus L. Ruscaceae Butchers Broom., Box holly, Knee Holly, Jew’s myrtle. Distribution: Mediterranean to Britain. Aculeatus means 'prickly' which describes the plant well. Dioscorides in 70 AD (Gunther, 1959) says of this plant ‘... ye leaves and berries drunk in wine have ye force to move urine, expel the menstrua, and to break ye stones in ye bladder ...’ and adds also ‘ ... it cures also ye Icterus and ye strangurie and ye headache.' Its use did not change for a millennium and a half

Open stoma on an orchid leaf (Phalaenopsis sp.)

Feverfew stoma

Stoma and chloroplasts of maize leaf

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