Ultrastructural damage due to freezing followed by thawing in shoot meristem and leaf mesophyll cells of tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.).

Tillers of Festuca arundinacea Schreb. were subjected to-8°C in a bath of methylated spirits for three-quarters of an hour. They were thawed at room temperature and some material taken from the shoot apical meristem and leaf blade for electron microscopy. Similar material was taken from control plants for electron microscopy. Nine tillers subjected to-8°C and thawed subsequently failed to regrow. Nine control tillers regrew. All the treated meristem cells and about half the treated leaf mesophyll cells were extensively altered. Their nuclei were contracted, organelles were swollen or partly disrupted, plasmalemma and nuclear membranes were broken or absent and vacuoles were sometimes disrupted. Strongly osmiophilic material accumulated in the vicinity of membranes. About half the leaf mesophyll cells differed from the control mesophyll cells only in having more spherosomes and narrower thylakoids. Parallels with other ultrastructural studies of stress damage and the indications the results give of possible primary damaging events are discussed.