Leaf cell rehydration (0 minutes). Transmission electron micrograph (TEM) of a section through a leaf mesophyll cell of a resurrection plant (Selaginella lepidophylla). The cell is shown when the plant was desiccated. Small vacuoles (white, upper centre) will fill with any water the plant absorbs. The mesophyll cell produces sugar using sunlight (photosynthesis) in its large chloropla- sts (with black granules). This plant, a type of primitive vascular plant known as a spike moss, grows in the desert. It is called the resurrection plant as it can remain brown and brittle until rain falls, when it becomes green and supple. Magnification: x17,000 at 7.5x7.5 inch size.