Pollen

Images made through a microscope. All subject types.

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Olympusman
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Pollen

Post by Olympusman »

Pollen from either Freesia or Alstroemaria. Have to look deeper into the ID. Thanks, Lou.



Image
Michael Reese Much FRMS EMS Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA

grgh
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Location: Lancashire. UK

Post by grgh »

Lovely shot.
now waiting to see what the macro shot looks like.

for me its a Freesia?.
used to do astronomy.
and photography.
Zeiss Universal Phase contrast.
Zeiss PMII
B&L stereo zoom.

Lou Jost
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Post by Lou Jost »

Amazing pollen shot! There is no doubt it is an Alstroemeria. The flowers are distinctive enough, but the earlier picture also shows the remarkable leaves which are like no other plant in the world except related Bomarea. They are built "upside down", with their stomata on top of the leaf which is suicidal for a plant growing upright. To prevent death from drying out, their petioles twist 180 degrees so that the "top" of the leaf ends up facing the ground.

They are related to Bomarea which climb and often hang down. It makes sense for that genus to have stomata on "top" (on the side that faces the growing point of the stem), if the branches often point down (since then the stomata would be facing the ground). Perhaps this was the ancestral genus and Alstroemeria evolved from it, inheriting this now-useless quirk.

grgh
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Joined: Sat Mar 09, 2013 4:55 am
Location: Lancashire. UK

Post by grgh »

Lou i am convinced on your Id, your explanation I have followed and yes, I was wrong in my initial assumption.

still a lovely photo.
used to do astronomy.
and photography.
Zeiss Universal Phase contrast.
Zeiss PMII
B&L stereo zoom.

Lou Jost
Posts: 5942
Joined: Fri Sep 04, 2015 7:03 am
Location: Ecuador
Contact:

Post by Lou Jost »

Thanks for looking into it, grgh. It is a marvelous genus and family. I spend a lot of time looking for our native Bomarea species in that same family, and managed to rediscover one species that had been lost to science for 150 years. That was exciting!!

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