Claviceps purpurea fruiting body sections

During my summer at Rothamsted Research 2007 I studied ergot of wheat which is a diseased caused by the Ascomycete Claviceps purpurea. I used a cryostat (precise freezing and cutting machine) to make 5 to 10 micron slices of the fruiting bodies (pictured earlier on this web site) which are seen here under a light microscope through 10x to 20x objectives, the slices are stained using ruthenium red and toluidine blue. The circles around the edge of the whole fruiting body are perithecia (ascomata) which contain asci (sacs) of ascospores.