The cover image shows leafy shoots (gametophores) of the bryophyte Physcomitrella patens (left panel) that comprise a stem, leaf-like organs (phyllids), and root-like organs (rhizoids), including one gametophore, which carries a sporophyte with a mature spore capsule (dark sphere); image supplied by Jasmin Goemann (University of Goettingen, Germany). Also shown are developing seeds of Crambe abyssinica (right panel; photographed by Li-Hua Zhu, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden); and a confocal microscopy image of lipid droplets in a nitrogen-deprived Chlamydomonas reinhardtii cell (at 3 d; top right hand corner). The cell was stained with BODIPY, and the following pseudo colours were used: green (lipid droplet); red (chlorophyll). Photo taken by Fantao Kong (CEA Cadarache, France) using a Zeiss LSM780 confocal microscope.