Christmas Cactus Filament

Applause IconJan 13, 2025 • 5:54 PM UTC
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Holly Stuart (Foldscope Team)

Education Specialist at Foldscope Instruments

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Adventures In Microscopy: Exploration of the filament of the Christmas cactus flower

It is amazing how many different types of ways there are to study a single specimen under a microscope! This time I took a group of filament strands from one of the flowers, placed them on a slide, and covered them with tape. All of the images were captured using the Foldscope 2.0. This is what I saw...

I love the one pink filament that wove its way through the colorless ones!
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These images look like woven fibers!
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Notice how pollen becomes more prevalent as you move from the base of the filament to the top (close to the anther).
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Playing with lighting can give beautiful images! The pollen really sparkles in the darkfield lighting!
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If you have any ideas for what else I can study with the Christmas cactus flowers before they fade away, let me know! And if you have looked at these or any other flowers under your Foldscope, please post them on the Microcosmos!

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