This image shows small pollen molecules collected from an orange hibiscus flower. It is easy to see the surrounding wall around the cellulose, and in a few you can make out the nuclei of the cells they are made of. This sample was taken on May 5th, 2019 at 4:00 pm, from a hibiscus plant on the Caltech campus, outside Page house. To collect the sample, a slide was held underneath the anthers, which were gently tapped until a few pollen grains fell onto the slide. These were covered with a slide cover which was then taped down. It would be interesting to see if different species of hibiscus have significantly different pollen grains. This could be answered by collecting samples from several different species and comparing their physical structures under a foldscope.
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