Raspberry – the little “hairs” are called “Styles”

Mar 13, 2015 • 9:02 AM UTC

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140x Magnification

Microorganisms

joeazzato

Photographer, filmmaker, explorer of tiny worlds: http://youtu.be/kpODEFbWeDg

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I was eating some raspberries and though the little fibers or “hairs” on them might be a good subject for the Foldscope.
With a bit of research I discovered the “hairs” are called “styles”. Here is a description from the web site raspberryblackberry.com
They are the remnants of the pistils, the female portion of the flower. They may help protect the fruit from insect damage.
I cut off a small portion with a few of the styles and put them under the Foldscope.

This is what the styles look like with a small 10x jewler’s loupe

This is the piece I removed for closer examination .

This is the tip of one of the styles.

Here is the stalk of the style

These three show the “root” end of the style where it attaches to the raspberry.

These are even smaller fibers on the piece I was looking at. I’ll have to do more research to see what they are called.
…and the raspberries were very yummy! ;-D