Fig. 6.3-5b. Magnification of chestnut (Aesculus) shoot apical meristem. For some reason, all cells here are slightly plasmolyzed except for the tunica and the central mother cells. Typically, the central mother cell zone can be difficult to for a beginner to identify, but this CMC zone is very obvious. The two views of the peripheral zone (remember, there is only one peripheral zone, we are just seeing a left and right cut through one doughnut-shaped structure) are both short, being only four to eight cells long from CMC zone to the base of the leaf primordia. Just below the CMC zone are the cells of the pith-rib meristem.