An oil body is a lipid-containing structure found in plant cells. The term can refer to at least two distinct kinds of structures in different kinds of plants.
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Liverwort oil bodies are structures unique to liverworts that contain isoprenoid essential oils and are surrounded by a single membrane.[1] The size, shape, color, and number of oil bodies per cell is characteristic of certain species and may be used to identify these.
Some species of vascular plants also contain intracellular structures called oil bodies. Vascular plant oil bodies consist mainly of triacylglycerols surrounded by a layer consisting of phospholipids and the protein oleosin.[2] These oil bodies occur largely in seeds but also occur in other plant parts, including leaves.[3]
Microscopic views of liverwort cells, showing a variety of oil body shapes and arrangements.