Palisade mesophyll structure

Tightly packed, highly vacuolated cells

One layer of orderly arranged chloroplasts

A high magnification light microscope view of a soybean (Glycine max) leaf cross-section showing the structure of palisade mesophyll cells. The cells are tightly packed and highly vacuolated. The chloroplasts (stained purple due to accumulated starch) are distributed in an orderly manner in a thin, dense parietal cytoplasmic layer along the lateral walls. A nucleus is indicated by the arrow.