Pollen Collection on the Caltech Campus

May 10, 2019 • 11:36 PM UTC

Los Angeles County, CA, USA

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doliveira

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The above image shows flower pollen collected on the Caltech campus in Pasadena, California. It was collected on May 9, 2019 at 5:20 PM PDT from a plant growing along the southwest edge of the Holliston parking structure.

The pollen was collected from the flower shown here. It is a Bird of Paradise flower (or, formally, Strelitzia reginae ). This was a very recognizable and appropriate flower to choose since it is the official flower of Los Angeles.

Here, the flower can be seen in the center of the frame, part of a group of Bird of Paradise plants in front of the southwest corner of the Holliston parking structure.

Visible here are is the pollen-producing part of the flower. Pollen is exposed when the side of the its flexible blue envelope-like structure is pressed down (as pollinating birds would do). To collect the pollen, I simply held this portion open and lightly pressed the glass slide against it. Then, I covered the pollen with a cover slip and fixed it down with two small pieces of tape. Finally, to take the photo, I placed the foldscope lens over the front-facing camera of my iPhone 8, mounted the slide over it, and adjusted the slide position until pollen was visible.
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Pollen Collection on the Caltech Campus

doliveira

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