We pay tribute to the seminal paper 'A microtubule in plant cell fine structure' by Myron C. Ledbetter and Keith R. Porter (1963) by summarizing the very limited knowledge of plant cell ultrastructure that we had prior to that publication, and, by way of our three retrospective accounts, show how this paper stimulated and influenced subsequent research on plant microtubules. Micrographs of historical interest are presented that are either previously unpublished or from primary publications.
Keywords: glutaraldehyde; microtubule; microtubule organizing center; mitotic spindle; phragmoplast; preprophase band.
© 2013 The Authors The Plant Journal © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.