Lydia-Marie Joubert

After many months I finally had time to play with Foldscope again. Dried flowers which I daily collected on our 2018 Whale Trail hike in the De Hoop Nature Reserve on the southern coast of South Africa, were mounted and interesting floral features captured with the low magnification lens. The trail runs through the indigenous Fynbos biome with species of
 
 Protea
 
 ,
 
 Erica
 
 ,
 
 Mimetes
 
 and
 
 Helichrysum
 
 , many of which are endemic to the area, in abundance. I limited myself (mostly) to one species per day. On my Tankwa trail I realized it’s over-ambitious to aim for ‘microscopy time’ at the end of a long day’s hike with minimal battery life on your phone. However, carrying a couple of envelopes in which to collect and dry flowers, provide an easy (and lightweight) solution.

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 <figcaption>
 Day 1: Potberg hut.
 
 Euryops
 
 species (Asteraceae).
 </figcaption>
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 <figcaption>
 Day 2: Potberg to Cupidoskraal.
 
 Protea
 
 species (Proteaceae), dry floral parts.
 </figcaption>
</figure>
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 <img alt="7834CD8A-1B4B-4709-A0BD-6E89D213627E" class="wp-image-123313 gcloudimg" data-attachment-id="123313" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta='{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}' data-image-title="7834CD8A-1B4B-4709-A0BD-6E89D213627E" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/microcosmosdelta.appspot.com/images/transfer_123271/7834CD8A-1B4B-4709-A0BD-6E89D213627E.jpeg"/>
 <figcaption>
 Day 3: Cupidoskraal to Noetsie:
 
 Podalyria
 
 speceis (Fabaceae): petals in white and dark red.
 </figcaption>
</figure>
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 <img alt="8852E131-A3C5-434F-9600-0B284C555EAA" class="wp-image-123314 gcloudimg" data-attachment-id="123314" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta='{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}' data-image-title="8852E131-A3C5-434F-9600-0B284C555EAA" data-recalc-dims="1" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/microcosmosdelta.appspot.com/images/transfer_123271/8852E131-A3C5-434F-9600-0B284C555EAA.jpeg"/>
 <figcaption>
 Day 4: Noetsie to Hamerkop:
 
 Erica
 
 species (Ericaceae), anthers protruding from floral tube.
 </figcaption>
</figure>
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 <img alt="5C155317-04EF-4318-AC70-F8AD74F81C60" class="wp-image-123315 gcloudimg" data-attachment-id="123315" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta='{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}' data-image-title="5C155317-04EF-4318-AC70-F8AD74F81C60" data-recalc-dims="1" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/microcosmosdelta.appspot.com/images/transfer_123271/5C155317-04EF-4318-AC70-F8AD74F81C60.jpeg"/>
 <figcaption>
 Day 5: Hamerkop to Vaalkrans: coastal fynbos, species of
 
 Erica
 
 and Fabaceae, trichomes (plant hairs) on floral sepals.
 </figcaption>
</figure>
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 <img alt="B7BE7D7C-1402-4B73-B8CD-31B5C6AAB3CC" class="wp-image-123316 gcloudimg" data-attachment-id="123316" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta='{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}' data-image-title="B7BE7D7C-1402-4B73-B8CD-31B5C6AAB3CC" data-recalc-dims="1" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/microcosmosdelta.appspot.com/images/transfer_123271/B7BE7D7C-1402-4B73-B8CD-31B5C6AAB3CC.jpeg"/>
 <figcaption>
 Day 6: Vaalkrans to Koppie Alleen: ‘Everlastings’/’Sewejaartjies’ (
 
 Helichrysum
 
 and
 
 Syncarpha
 
 species), were abundant along the trail. Day 2 surprised us with fields of white
 
 Syncarpha
 
 
 vestita
 
 , a tall species with brilliant white floral heads, which mostly flower after exposure to fire. Images are from floral petals and trichomes on sepals.
 </figcaption>
</figure>
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 <figcaption>
 Starting out on day 3, leaving the mountain fynbos for its coastal version- and an abundance of whales along the way!
 </figcaption>
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Hiking the Whale Trail with Foldscope.

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 From 29 Sept to 9 Oct 2016 I took part in a 260km ‘Tankwa Camino’ endurance hike,  which stretches through one of the most desolate regions on earth: South Africa’s Tankwa Karoo. For 10 days our group of 50 hikers covered distances of up to 32kms per day while facing scorching temperatures. My Foldscope was in my backpack and I set out with the firm idea to capture at least one image per day. For the first two days we arrived in camp so late that there was hardly time to pitch my tent, get my 3liter lukewarm ‘bucket bath’ and organize my gear for the next day’s hike – and I did not touch Foldscope. From Day 3 we got up at 04h45 to start hiking before dawn and by the light of our head lamps – also racing against the heat of the day, which could touch on 40C with no shade and almost no vegetation. We now reached camp in the early afternoon, and could settle into a routine of pitching tent, setting up camp, tending feet and blisters, fixing gear, and preparing for dinner under the milky way and the brilliant stars of the southern skies. I finally got time to prep some slides for Foldscope – but lo and behold, my iPhone ran out of juice and my little solar charger proved to be useless despite the glaring African sun. I nevertheless managed to capture images of some lovely
 
 Mesembryanthemum clavatum
 
 flowers. These succulents, also known as ‘vygies’ grow in the most arid regions, where they speckle the rocky earth in rivulets of color which run into the distance. Here are some images of the area, my hideout for each night (aka tent), and splashes of vygies. With Foldscope I could inspect the abundance of stamens and pollen produced by the typical ‘mesemb’ flowers. I believe the
 
 Mesemryanthemaceae
 
 have (since my Botany days) been renamed to
 
 Aizoacea.
 
 Something I could not fit into any Foldscope slide, is the amazing spirit of the people who walked with me. I’ll be back :).
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Hiking the Tankwa Camino with Foldscope

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 My first images after assembling and registering my Foldscope! Pelargonium leaves and flowers were mounted dry with transparent tape on a paper slide, to look at the trichomes and signs of pollination. Covering hairs (trichomes) have a protective function and also help sustain a micro-environment close to the leaf surface.  Glandular hairs secrete monoterpenes (essential oils) that may have an antimicrobial  function – and which we use in perfume. In the genus Pelargonium the trichomes are so varied they can be used as taxonomic features to classify individual species. Using just the low mag (140x) lens and natural light I could distinguish the covering hairs from glandular secretory hairs and in the flower see pollen sticking to the papillate surface of the stigma. Pollen grains were also seen on the surface of the stamen. I will next use the high mag lens and light module to evaluate the improvement in resolution. Already impressed and delighted!


 Cheers


 Lydia Joubert

Botanizing

Looking at the fern in my backyard I notice small spherical bumps on the lower (abaxial) side of its leaves, or fronds. These tiny spheres are so-called  ‘sori’ that contain spore-bearing sporangia. Ferns are part of the plant division Pteridophyta, which are very old and very smart, since they survived since the age of dinosaurs. Pteridophyta do not produce seeds in flowers like Angiosperms, or in cones like Gymnosperms, they propogate through tiny spores which they produce in sporangia. I cut away a small leaf, and looked at the plant, leaf and sporangia with my Foldscope and iPhone.  After mounting a piece of the leaf on a paper slide, I could see the sori through the leaf, close to the vascular bundles, by using the light module and low mag lens. Then I used a toothpick to scrape off some sori, and mounted these in a drop of water between 2 layers of double-sided tape in a cardboard slide in my Foldscope. The structure of the sporangia was quite clear and beautiful with their thick-walled annulus cells that are hygroscopic and filled with water. In nature the thin-walled mouth cells shrink rapidly as moisture is lost, and release the spores as the mouth snaps open when the cells contract through desiccation . The spores are launched away from the plant and then first from a tiny haploid organism (with half the number of chromosomes) before it propagates into a new diploid generation. I was delighted to also see an open sporangium mouth with released spores.


 Ferns are awesome!


 Lydia Joubert


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Botanizing 2

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 Reticulite is like glass in rock form… A frothy volcanic rock that forms during vigorous fire-fountaining of lava. It is so full of bubbles that it floats on water. It is like very fine pumice made of glass, and has the lowest density of any rock, with a porosity of up to 98 percent. The open honeycomb network of bubbles (vesicles) results from the bursting of cell walls against one another during vesiculation. I got a small sample of this silicate rock from a colleague in geophysics, and mounted it with doubled-sided tape in a paper slide. One really needs to see this in 3 dimensions and the structure is so fragile, that compression between slides or tape breaks the glass-like skeleton, but still allowed me to see the pores and pillars of the reticulate structure. Patterns of nature in glass… from a volcano!
 
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Shapes of Nature

Tea from Southern Africa! Looking at samples of my tea collection with Foldscope actually resembles a throwback to looking at your ‘Hortus siccus’ – a collection of dried plants from a herbarium, like plant explorers and collectors of old. I first looked at Rooibos (red bush) tea –
 
 Aspalathus linearis
 
 – a species endemic to a small region on the west coast of Southern Africa and used as herbal remedy by indigenous Khoi San tribes since prehistoric times. It has globally become a popular tea for its anti-oxidant properties, anti-allergens, also used in ointments, facial products and even as baby food substitute. With Foldscope I could see the fine narrow leaves and twigs that are harvested for drying and fermentation. The leaves are quite thick to penetrate with the light module, but I did could see individual leaf cells and woody elements.


 (1)
 
 Aspalathus linearis
 


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 Second I looked at Honeybush tea (
 
 Cyclopia
 
 species) which are endemic to the mountains on the southern coast of South Africa. Both leaves and flowers are dried and fermented, and have a distinctive sweet honey flavor, which does not go bitter even when steeped for hours. The plant was noted in botanical literature from 1705, the first settlers used it as substitute for black tea while the indigenous Khoi San used it as cough remedy. With Foldscope I could see leaves with individual cells similar to Rooibos.


 (2)
 
 Cyclopia maculata, sessiliflora or genistoides
 


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 Third I took some dried Buchu leaves that I normally mix with Rooibos and/or Honeybush for a refreshing drink before bedtime, reminding me of nature and camping in the bush. Buchu leaves (
 
 Agathosma betulina
 
 ) are known for their medicinal properties and even mixed with brandy for stomach ailments, by explorers and settlers. Foldscope highlighted the leaves with trichomes, and zooming in on the leaf surface I could see individual cells and surface glands that produce the essential oils like mercaptone, menthone, limonene, menthone and pulegone used in aromatherapy.


 (3)
 
 Agathosma betulina
 


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 Again, a delightful journey of exploration with Foldscope!


 Cheers


 Lydia

Botanizing 3

I’m a bit tied up this weekend to experiment with Foldscope, pleading from downstairs to go out and explore more of nature! I did however take time to scan some of my trichome papers from the 1980s, and they are now online:


 1.
 <a alt="Oosthuizen1983.TaxonomicValueTrichomesPelargoniumJlS.Afr.Bot493221242" class="gcloudimg" href="https://storage.googleapis.com/microcosmosdelta.appspot.com/images/transfer_5493/Oosthuizen1983.TaxonomicValueTrichomesPelargoniumJlS.Afr.Bot493221242">
 Taxonomic value
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 :


 2.
 <a alt="JoubertCoetzee1983SAfrJBot2305310" class="gcloudimg" href="https://storage.googleapis.com/microcosmosdelta.appspot.com/images/transfer_5493/JoubertCoetzee1983SAfrJBot2305310">
 Morphogenesis:
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 3.
 <a alt="JoubertCoetzee1984SAJnlBot35054" class="gcloudimg" href="https://storage.googleapis.com/microcosmosdelta.appspot.com/images/transfer_5493/JoubertCoetzee1984SAJnlBot35054">
 Initiation during leaf growth:
 </a>


 More to come soon!


 Cheers


 Lydia

Lydia-Marie Joubert

Earth

Posts

Botanizing 2

Shapes of Nature

Botanizing 3

Botanizing – of trichomes and things :)

Hiking the Whale Trail with Foldscope.

Hiking the Tankwa Camino with Foldscope

Botanizing

Botanizing 2

Shapes of Nature

Botanizing 3

Botanizing – of trichomes and things :)

Hiking the Whale Trail with Foldscope.

Hiking the Tankwa Camino with Foldscope

Botanizing

Botanizing 2

Shapes of Nature

Botanizing 3

Botanizing – of trichomes and things :)

Locations

Statistics

Type of Sample

Foldscope Lens Magnification