Fig. 5.3-9. Water lily leaf. This section has caught the body of the astrosclereid, two of its arms, and just the base of three more arms. If we could examine the back and front side of the cell (the parts that have been cut away) we would undoubtedly see many more arms. Arms may extend out freely into the intercellular spaces or lie embedded in a mass of parenchyma. This is a very lucky section -- it has caught the cell's nucleus, located in an arm rather than in the body.