Vegetable Pollen under the Microscope 🔬
When I think of pollen, I think of allergies and hay fever. I also now think about the pollen basket the honey bee carries on its hind leg (as we had previously explored). I hate the smell of pollen that settles at dusk. It is extremely potent. A couple of times I had gone outside for less than a minute and ended up with swollen eyelids that last over 24 hours.
Here I have a pre-prepared slide of ‘Vegetable Pollen’, hence the title of this post. I would like to state which vegetable but that is what was labelled on the slide. Silly I know. Anyways, let us check it out under the microscope.
![SmartSelectGIF_2018-05-03-22-55-55.gif](https://steemitimages.com/0x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmdZP12oXdA9ijEG1Vruyip7Ru2P2w9DqAw8ETNYyAfXyN/SmartSelectGIF_2018-05-03-22-55-55.gif)
Oh my I didn’t expect to see this. They look just like polka dots, kind of big looking too. It looks too perfect of a smooth circle to be real. Let us have a closer look.
![SmartSelectGIF_2018-05-03-22-57-56.gif](https://steemitimages.com/DQmNpRyj1GEPpaTQAYUn9dQk45oEo5QXgvPXkcXsREJjx9Z/SmartSelectGIF_2018-05-03-22-57-56.gif)
Looking closer we can see it is not smooth. If you look carefully it appears fuzzy looking around the edges.
![](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/41/Brassica_rapa_subsp._campestris%2C_raapstelen_bloeiwijze_%283%29.jpg/675px-Brassica_rapa_subsp._campestris%2C_raapstelen_bloeiwijze_%283%29.jpg)
Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons, by Rasbak, by CC BY-SA 3.0
I have another pollen slide that is similar. The slide is labelled as ‘Pollen of brassica campestris var oleifera’. It is a plant that is found in China and was eaten during time of famine.
China: stems and leaves eaten. The plant is also the source of colza oil, which is used in cooking. Source
It is small yellow flowering plant with what looks like only four petals per flower. It is pretty looking, I wonder what the stem/leaves taste like.
![SmartSelectGIF_2018-05-03-23-01-57.gif](https://steemitimages.com/DQmRkxUriTKtoGMaR6htcEKLi85MYZnDEZVRwukgCboXSBU/SmartSelectGIF_2018-05-03-23-01-57.gif)
Looking at this, instantly we can see how much smaller the pollen is compared to the previous sample. Here is a picture of them side by side under total magnification of 40x.
Quickly checking the pollen, they look very similar to the vegetable pollen sample. But just a much smaller version. Now when I think of pollen, I will not only think of allergies and hay fever, but polka dots!!!
Note: Unless cited, all other images and gifs belong to @supersoju
References:
Brassica campestris var. oleifera
Noooo!
I know that feeling all too well :(
it’s difficult as it can happen at any time when outdoors.
The worst feeling ever! Watching this gif makes me want to sneeze too lol
This is actually very nice looking! I'm surprised. First I thought maybe it's a set of different vegetables and that's what makes it so colorful but then th brassica pollen is just like the other one! Interesting
It is pretty looking, this is the first time I've seen pollen under the microscope. I was very surprised too.
Wow, who knew there were such pretty colours!
They are pretty colours but only because they were stained for better viewing. But I wonder how it ended up with different colours if it is the same pollen....
Ahh allergies, I feel your pain. I too am allergic to pollen, add it to the list. But it does look pretty under the microscope.
hehehehe we have a lot of similarities 😉
I love looking at electron microscope pictures of pollen, that makes them look the way we allergic types feel. My worst is Jasmine. I just had to get rid of the massive bush of jasmine outside my bedroom window. This season was easier. Until the pine trees started releasing pollen :(
Oh, I don't think I've ever seen/come across a jasmine flower before. Or maybe I just didn't know it was. Eek, I have a pine pollen sample too. I'll be checking that out soon.
Jasmine is a creeper and one of the very first plants to flower in spring. Smells great but really gets my eyes itching. Picture from wikipedia
By i_am_jim - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=48516945
Oh, is that what jasmine looks like?! That looks like something we use to have outside along the fence!!! I remember it use to smell very strong during spring. EEK all this time!! lol
I feel like sneezing after reading this and I don’t even get hay fever!! I tried to type hay fever in writing this reply but my crappy typing kept being corrected as ‘Harpy Fever’. I might get those. Lol
hahahaha You're lucky you don't get hay fever.
lol harpy fever!!
I see colors!!! 😂
I wonder why everything looks the same to the untrained eye. I saw a post about plankton but it didn't have any color and I only saw/looked at the round ones instead of the planktons... I only know the Spongebob plankton. 😂
I think maybe you can use steemstem tag in the future too...
hehehe lol but it is fun to check things out close up, even if you don't know what to look out for. That's what makes it exciting.
Thanks @artgirl
I will be using steemstem tag only when I write a more detailed post that would be worthy of using the steemstem tag. This is more of a short fun microscopy post, I don't think using the steemstem tag would be suitable. Thanks for suggesting though 😊
Oh I see. Ok thanks too.
wowww!
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