Following A Pollen Trail

[KurtM]

Here's a little set I came up with that I thought was kinda cool: following the trail from spotting a wildflower outside to examining its pollen under the microscope. The flowers are an old springtime Texas favorite that grow abundantly right here in my yard, Pink Evening Primrose, sometimes called Buttercup because whenever you try to smell 'em, your nose comes back yellow with pollen. I was experimenting with different ways of handling pollen since these are so easy to collect from, and in the course of doing so, took pictures using my Canon T3i, Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM lens, Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 USM macro lens, Kenko extension tube set, then on to the Zeiss WL using the 16x/.35 with epi lighting, and 40x/.65 lens with DIC. The 16x shot, which the sharp-eyed among you may recognize as a repeat from a few weeks back, is straight out off the anther, and the 40x is mounted in Brunel glycerin jelly with red fuschin dye, and is a stack of 14 images.

Remember, NOW is the time to examine pollen - it's spring!

[gekko]

Wonderful "trail" and superb images.

[mrsonchus]

Superb Kurt! Great series and a lovely clean + clear final image - really nice post my friend. Pleased you're getting the best of the gel - it's really handy once you get the hang of it.

Keep it up Kurt, looking great!