<p>
 Every day as I walk out of my residence here in Cape Town, I pass by this brilliant hibiscus flowering tree. Oftentimes I’ll snatch a flower down just to add some natural color to my room, and I was so wowed by the different parts of it I saw under my Foldscope:
</p>
<figure class="wp-block-image">
 <img alt="Flower" class="wp-image-151541 gcloudimg" data-attachment-id="151541" 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="Flower" data-recalc-dims="1" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/microcosmosdelta.appspot.com/images/transfer_151540/Flower.jpeg"/>
 <figcaption>
  The inner petal, dark-red region
 </figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="wp-block-image">
 <img alt="Flower (Light Pink)" class="wp-image-151552 gcloudimg" data-attachment-id="151552" 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="Flower (Light Pink)" data-recalc-dims="1" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/microcosmosdelta.appspot.com/images/transfer_151540/Flower-Light-Pink.jpeg"/>
 <figcaption>
  The light pink flower petal in greater clarity!
 </figcaption>
</figure>
<p>
 And below, pollen grains were starkly visible with Foldscope, which I found to be incredibly enrapturing.
</p>
<div class="wp-block-jetpack-tiled-gallery aligncenter is-style-rectangular" data-carousel-extra='{"blog_id":1,"permalink":"https:\/\/microcosmos.foldscope.com\/?p=151540"}'>
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    <figure class="tiled-gallery__item">
     <img alt="Pollen" class="gcloudimg" data-attachment-id="151542" data-comments-opened="1" data-height="577" data-id="151542" 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="Pollen" data-link="https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?attachment_id=151542" data-url="https://storage.googleapis.com/microcosmosdelta.appspot.com/images/transfer_151540/Pollen-1.jpeg" data-width="429" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/microcosmosdelta.appspot.com/images/transfer_151540/Pollen-1.jpeg"/>
    </figure>
   </div>
   <div class="tiled-gallery__col" data-carousel-extra='{"blog_id":1,"permalink":"https:\/\/microcosmos.foldscope.com\/?p=151540"}'>
    <figure class="tiled-gallery__item">
     <img alt="60809342_414865479093678_1036549348541857792_n" class="gcloudimg" data-attachment-id="151545" data-comments-opened="1" data-height="1334" data-id="151545" 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="60809342_414865479093678_1036549348541857792_n" data-link="https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?attachment_id=151545" data-url="https://storage.googleapis.com/microcosmosdelta.appspot.com/images/transfer_151540/60809342_414865479093678_1036549348541857792_n-1.jpg" data-width="992" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/microcosmosdelta.appspot.com/images/transfer_151540/60809342_414865479093678_1036549348541857792_n-1.jpg"/>
    </figure>
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 </div>
</div>
<p>
 Whenever I head out to work with students at a Foldscope workshop now, I always bring this flower for them to peer under the microscope with.
</p>
<div class="wp-block-image" data-carousel-extra='{"blog_id":1,"permalink":"https:\/\/microcosmos.foldscope.com\/?p=151540"}'>
 <figure class="aligncenter is-resized">
  <img alt="Samples at the macro scale" class="wp-image-151553 gcloudimg" data-attachment-id="151553" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta='{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1558525996","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}' data-image-title="Samples at the macro scale" data-recalc-dims="1" height="63" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/microcosmosdelta.appspot.com/images/transfer_151540/Samples-at-the-macro-scale.jpeg" width="177"/>
  <figcaption>
   Samples at the macro scale
  </figcaption>
 </figure>
</div>
<p>
 The stigma and style too were quite neat to observe!
</p>
<figure class="wp-block-image">
 <img alt="Stigma" class="wp-image-151554 gcloudimg" data-attachment-id="151554" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta='{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1558970373","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}' data-image-title="Stigma" data-recalc-dims="1" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/microcosmosdelta.appspot.com/images/transfer_151540/Stigma.jpeg"/>
 <figcaption>
  Crushed stigma
 </figcaption>
</figure>
<p>
 And for fun, I had painted this flower during my first week of April here in Cape Town. Hope you enjoyed!
</p>
<figure class="wp-block-image">
 <img alt="Hibiscus" class="wp-image-151623 gcloudimg" data-attachment-id="151623" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta='{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"SM-J106F","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1558982775","copyright":"","focal_length":"3.3","iso":"320","shutter_speed":"0.125","title":"","orientation":"1"}' data-image-title="Hibiscus" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/microcosmosdelta.appspot.com/images/transfer_151540/Hibiscus-1.jpg"/>
</figure>


Anatomy of a hibiscus flower

gracehu

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