On Saturday, Stanford University was blessed with another beautiful day of sunshine, blue skies, and enviable 70 degree weather. Naturally, like any college student with essays to write and problem sets to solve, I decided to sprawl outside in the grass and forego my aforementioned responsibilities. While basking under the sun, I noticed these tiny seeds with feathery tendrils in the grass beside my head. I proceeded to pluck a few of these seeds and prepared a dry mount of this sample. Upon looking at my sample through my Foldscope, I looked at the feathery tendrils. They were very smooth and un-textured, presumably to help with wind dispersal of the seed, as the less textured they are, the less air resistance the seed experiences. I enjoyed seeing a close-up of something so delicate and soft, and noticing the structure of the tendrils of the seed.


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Exploring Nature on a Lazy Saturday Afternoon

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