Visual — What it looks like These diagrams show photosynthesis at three scales: the tissue architecture of a leaf, the molecular machinery of the chloroplast, and the two-stage chemical process that turns light into sugar. Every photosynthetic plant on Earth runs this same cascade — the details differ in Russian thistle (Kali tragus) mainly in pathway (C3) and leaf anatomy.
Leaf Cross-Section Epidermis, mesophyll layers, vascular bundle, stomata
Leaf cross-section Histological diagram of a dicot leaf showing upper epidermis, palisade mesophyll, spongy mesophyll, vascular bundle, lower epidermis and stomata. xylem phloem Upper epidermis Palisade mesophyll (chloroplasts) Spongy mesophyll (air spaces) Lower epidermis Stomata Leaf Cross-Section (transverse section, dicot leaf) Chloroplast Anatomy The organelle where all photosynthesis happens
Chloroplast anatomy Diagram of a chloroplast showing outer and inner membranes, stroma, thylakoid membrane system, grana stacks, and stroma lamellae. granum granum lumen stroma Outer membrane Inner membrane Intermembrane space Stroma Thylakoid membrane (light reactions) Stroma lamellae Grana stacks (thylakoid discs) Chloroplast Anatomy site of photosynthesis Light + Dark Reactions Light reactions (thylakoid) feed ATP + NADPH into the Calvin cycle (stroma) · C3 pathway
Photosynthesis reactions overview Two-panel overview: left shows light-dependent reactions on the thylakoid membrane; right shows the Calvin cycle (light-independent reactions) in the stroma. Light-Dependent Reactions (thylakoid membrane) hν PS II 680 nm H₂O → O₂ + H⁺ O₂ ↑ e⁻ ETC + ATP syn. ATP ↓ hν PS I 700 nm NADPH ↓ Calvin Cycle (stroma · light-independent) CO₂ fixation (RuBisCO) 3-PGA G3P (output) (→ glucose) RuBP ATP NADPH CO₂ → C3 Photosynthesis: Light + Dark Reactions hν = photon energy · ATP + NADPH bridge the two stages No content generated yet for this species. This takes about 10–20 seconds.
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