Answer to the Friday Whatsit for October 22, 2010

Congratulations to April and Linda, who both guessed correctly that this is part of a pine needle.  The Christmas hint was maybe a little too strong.

What is it?

I think this feature could be a stoma, or pore, in the needle.  Any botanists out there who could help out with this?  Stoma comes from the Greek word for mouth, and is the place where the plant exchanges gas (part of respiration) and water (part of transpiration) with the outside world.

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