What is making me sneeze? (BioE80 Spr2015)
May 26, 2015 • 1:15 AM UTC
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andrewpk
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Imagine a beautiful Spring day. You take a flower, and as you take a whiff, you sneeze. You then take a leaf, and you take a whiff, yet you do not sneeze. So why do only flowers give me allergies, and not leaves? Do the structures of the two plants differ for functionality?
We collected a fallen leaf from a tree and a purple flower. After pressing the leaf and the stamen of the purple flower (yellow-colored) into our slides, we viewed them through our Foldscope. We saw a similarity in their structure: they are both made up of smaller components, like little building blocks!
We collected a fallen leaf from a tree and a purple flower. After pressing the leaf and the stamen of the purple flower (yellow-colored) into our slides, we viewed them through our Foldscope. We saw a similarity in their structure: they are both made up of smaller components, like little building blocks!
We hypothesized that the white colored structures in the leaf are the canals that provide the leaf with nutrients, while the green patches are vacuoles. Alternately, we can also see that the pollen has dark-colored branch-like structures, and we hypothesized that this is what keeps all of the small yellow blocks in place. However, these “blocks” look more orderly and rigid, compared to our observations for the leaf’s “blocks.” Perhaps the pollen has a rigid and fragile structure to promote pollen distribution, while the leaf is structured so to deliver water/nutrients to the plant. This is why smelling flowers can potentially trigger allergies, as part of their structures can be broken down and released, while leaves have more twistable and durable structures.
While we aren’t botanists, using the microscope allowed us to see, and more importantly, question the world around us from a new perspective.
Contributors: Shin Mei Chan and Huan Yu Dennis Chang
While we aren’t botanists, using the microscope allowed us to see, and more importantly, question the world around us from a new perspective.
Contributors: Shin Mei Chan and Huan Yu Dennis Chang
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