FORENSIC BOTANY - TRICHOME EVIDENCE

Stellate trichomes (epidermal, star-shaped plant hairs) recovered from the stored wreckage of an aircraft's engine were used as a basis for arguing that faulty engine design led to the plane's crash near Ruidos o, New Mexico. Light and scanning electron microscope analyses of the trichomes recovered from the engine wreckage and other associated debr is, when compared with trichome samples taken from the nightshade (Sol anaceae) and cotton (Malvaceae) families about the storage site and el sewhere, provided positive identification of the trichome source. Thes e data, when interpreted in relation to basic ecological and plant lif e cycle information, confirmed that the trichome presence was the resu lt of post-crash rather than pre-crash events.