2008 Convention Show Photos - Class 79

"Pollination in Gesneria rupincola" exhibited by Carol Ann Bonner

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Pollination in Gesneria rupincola

The top image to the right is of fresh Gesneria rupincola pollen. Next is a young stigma from an unopened flower. The bottom image is of a mature stigma encrusted with pollen. Pollination occurred without human intervention.

Gesneria, like many if not all plants, is autofluorescent: the plant cells and tissue, when excited by specific wavelengths of light, emit light in different wavelengths which our eyes see as color.

These images were acquired on a Zeiss LSM 510 confocal microscope which detects the intensity of emitted light and uses false color to depict the different wavelengths. Thanks to Vanderbilt University Cell Imaging Shared Resource for access to microscopes.