Pollen Petal

This is a lonely little pollen grain, sitting on the petal of a thale-cress plant. Although it is solitary now, it was released into the air along with thousands of other pollen grains.

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Pollen Petal

This is a lonely little pollen grain, sitting on the petal of a thale-cress plant. Although it is solitary now, it was released into the air along with thousands of other pollen grains.

What am I looking at?

This is a microscopic image of a single grain of pollen (1) sitting on the petal of a thale-cress flower. You can see the conical cells that make up the inside surface of the flower petal in blue (2).

Biology in the background

Flower petals serve several purposes. One of their essential functions is to attract pollinators like insects and birds. This is why flower petals are often brightly colored – to make the flower more attractive to its pollinators. The tiny bumps on the inside of the flower petal, produced by the conical-shaped cells in this image (2), can help pollinators get a better grip on the petal.

This pollen grain is about 11 micrometers across, or roughly seven times smaller than the width of a human hair.

Technique

This image was created using confocal microscopy.