Fig. 1

Sample mounting techniques for the different samples. a Mounting of single Arabidopsis buds onto aluminium tube using glue. b Whole Arabidopsis inflorescence was mounted into a 0.5 ml Eppendorf tube, making sure the inflorescence was supported firmly and unable to move. c The pseudostem was cut above and below the developing barley spike and placed directly into a glass cyclinder to hold it secure in the scanner. d The barley spike was removed from the pseudostem and to keep it secure during the scan it was placed in a 30 ml tube with polystryrene at the base and top of the tube to hold it in position. e Growing barley plants were placed directly into the scanner. Each pot was labelled with a plant label with an aluminium strip(s) of wire so that each pot could be indentified from the scanned image