I have two common ferns in the garden, Athyrium filix-femina, and on the underside of every leaf there are hundreds (thousands?) of tiny circular lumps. Each lump contains a mass of pods, each held in a curved spring-like structure. Inside each little pod is the pollen.
Now, I don't know whether it was because my specimen was detached from the host plant, or if it was the bright light of the microscopes, but I didn't expect them to start moving around.
Here's an example of what happened....
Fern Firing Pollen
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FatBassPlayer
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Fern Firing Pollen
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Re: Fern Firing Pollen
Interesting video … thanks
This is only a still, from a mounted specimen, but I thought you might appreciate the beautiful detail of these things.
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MichaelG.
This is only a still, from a mounted specimen, but I thought you might appreciate the beautiful detail of these things.
.
- Fern Spores
- B08AD146-F523-42A0-9834-E57BC9D3E08A.jpeg (129.01 KiB) Viewed 1374 times
MichaelG.
Too many 'projects'
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FatBassPlayer
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Re: Fern Firing Pollen
Thank you MichaelG - beautiful pic. They are amazing structures!
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Mozart is dead,
Einstein is dead,
And I ain't feeling great.
Mozart is dead,
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apochronaut
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Re: Fern Firing Pollen
These spring loaded reproductive mechanisms are fairly common. One of commercial and environmental consequence : Apple scab fungus ( Venturia inequalis) spends the winter on dead leaves. In spring the fungus continues developing on the leaf and after sexual reproduction produces pseudothecia which shoot spores into the air from the surface of the dead leaf, then carried on air currents. Once a primary infection takes place on developing plant tissue, asexually generated spores can then spread secondary infections throughout the growing season, stimulated only by rain or heavy dew.
Stopping the primary infection by limiting the ejection of spores in spring is the most effective strategy in controlling scab without the common spraying in advance of every wet period. In a wet season, apples and pears can receive 20 sprays.
Stopping the primary infection by limiting the ejection of spores in spring is the most effective strategy in controlling scab without the common spraying in advance of every wet period. In a wet season, apples and pears can receive 20 sprays.
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FatBassPlayer
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Re: Fern Firing Pollen
Thank you for the information apochronaut. I'm slowly learning about micro-organisms, but as you can likely tell, my knowledge of flora is rather limited!apochronaut wrote: ↑Tue Jun 21, 2022 8:56 amThese spring loaded reproductive mechanisms are fairly common.....
Picasso is dead,
Mozart is dead,
Einstein is dead,
And I ain't feeling great.
Mozart is dead,
Einstein is dead,
And I ain't feeling great.
Re: Fern Firing Pollen
Hi
I used to photograph a fern leaf under UV and it was moving too.
In my opinion, this was due to the large amount of heat it received from the light source.
Now I try to work with dried plant fragments.
They are less mobile.
It seems to me that this is not an easy topic.
Good luck and best regards
I used to photograph a fern leaf under UV and it was moving too.
In my opinion, this was due to the large amount of heat it received from the light source.
Now I try to work with dried plant fragments.
They are less mobile.
It seems to me that this is not an easy topic.
Good luck and best regards