raphide
Sign in to savethumb|Raphides in Epipremnum ''Devil's ivy (600× magnification) Raphides ( ; singular raphide or raphis'') are needle-shaped crystals of calcium oxalate monohydrate (prismatic monoclinic crystals) or calcium carbonate as aragonite (dipyramidal orthorhombic crystals), found in more than 200 families of plants. Both ends appear needle-like, but raphides tend to be blunt at one end and sharp at the other.
~16 min read
Encyclopedic overview
6 sectionsContents
- Calcium oxalate in plants
- Harmful effects
- Plants containing raphides
- See also
- References
- Bibliography
thumb|Raphides in Epipremnum ''Devil's ivy (600× magnification) Raphides ( ; singular raphide or raphis) are needle-shaped crystals of calcium oxalate monohydrate (prismatic monoclinic crystals) or calcium carbonate as aragonite (dipyramidal orthorhombic crystals), found in more than 200 families of plants. Both ends appear needle-like, but raphides tend to be blunt at one end and sharp at the other.
== Calcium oxalate in plants == thumb|left| Raphides in Hypoestes phyllostachya, the polka dot plant
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “raphide” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.