More herbs from the winter garden

One of my favorite herbs in the garden is rosemary.  Not only is it easy to grow and propogate, it easily overwinters in the house with minimal care.  I learned last spring how many different plants are fun to look at
with my microscope, so I picked a sprig of rosmary for today's picture.  The first thing I noticed was the fact that the wonderful fragrance is most likely the little spheres of liquid that you can see on both sides of the leaf, especially bottom surface. Presumably these spheres contain the eucalyptol (C10H18O; 1,3,3-Trimethyl-2-oxabicyclo(2,2,2)octane) that is one of the two major "essential oils" in rosemary (camphene being the other).  As with many plants there are small "hairs" growing on both the upper and lower parts of the leaf, mainly the bottom.  This accounts for the "whittish" look one notices. After looking at the plant for some time I noticed that there are dozens of microscopic spiders living and crawling around the hairlike fibers.

 So.... the next time you rub some rosemary to enjoy the smell, remember all those little creatures you probably have on your fingers (and up your nose!)