Pollen color

Fig. 10 Histochemical staining of Hippeastrum hybridum pollen ( A), Epiphyllium hybridum pollen (B) and part of pistil of Hippeastrum hybridum (C) by red analogue of Ellman reagent. Blue color means the presence of cholinesterase.

Blue colour ring concentrated on plasmalemma of pollen (A). Arrows on B (lower part) shows a difference in the colour between cellular surface (blue color) and apperture for the output of pollen tube (red colour). Pistil excreted blue colour product, which covers the red coloured surface of pistil. The cholinesterase activity in plants is considered as sensitive test to study the allelopathic activity (Roshchina and Roshchina 1993 Roshchina,1999 2001a). 

Transactions between plants and pollinators go back millions of years and vary greatly from species to species, but they all have certain features in common. A plant s goal is to coax pollinators to call upon its flowers, so the animal can both pick up local pollen grains and leave pollen it has brought from afar. To attract attention, plants advertise their presence with color and fragrance. Taking advantage of pollinators color vision, their flowers have... 

Flavones. These compounds are the most widely distributed natural coloring matter formerly used as dyestuffs. Hasone-iype dyes occur in all the higher plants in the leaves, roots, bark, fruits, pollen, and flower petals. The most widespread flavone dye are quercetin and kaempferol. In general, the dyes occur as glycosides, the most common sugar being glucose. 

KGA3 on pollen germinability was studied, using the hanging-drop procedure as described by Olmo (22), and on development of the fruit, including the number of hard seeds per berry, determined by cutting berries open with a razor blade. Small shot berries that failed to soften or color were not counted. 

Staplin, F. Determination of thermal alteration index from color of exinite (pollen, spores), in How to assess maturation and paleotemperatures, (eds. Staplin, F. L., et al.) SEPM Short Course 7, p. 91, Tulsa OK, SEPM 1982... 

At the first breeze the entire load of pollen drops—apparently the supreme moment for the male. It begins to lose its color and waxy texture soon after, then gradually wrinkles and dries over the next few days, from the base of the plant up. Contrary to a rumor circulated for years, leaves and flowers of the male plant are psychoactive, though they diminish in potency rapidly after pollination. They should be harvested before shedding their pollen, unless the pollen is needed for seed production. 

Safflower seed, pollen, florets, and oil have been used for medicinal purposes almost since cultivation began. In the first century a.d., Pliny wrote that safflower oil, called oleum cnicium, was used as a milder substitute for castor oil, and Ped-anius Dioscorides, in De Materia Medica (the leading Western pharmacological text for 16 centuries), described the use of safflower to color and flavor various potions and unguents and to act as mild laxatives and flavoring agents (157). 

Maples are characterized by the shape of their leaves, which in most species are broadly palmate with a three- or five-lobed outline, and are arranged in an opposite fashion on their branches. Maples have seasonally deciduous foliage, which is shed in the autumn. The leaves of many species of maples develop beautiful yellow, orange, or red colors in the autumn, prior to shedding for the winter. Maple flowers appear early in the springtime, and consist of non-showy, rather inconspicuous inflorescences. The flowers of some species produce nectar and are insect-pollinated, while other species shed their pollen into the air and are wind-pollinated. Maples have distinctive, winged seeds known as samaras, which are arrar ed in opposite pairs. 

The Corolla.—The Corolla is the inner floral envelope, usually delicate in texture, and showing more or less brilliant colors and combinations of color. Its parts are called Petals, and when the calyx closely resembles the corolla in structure and coloring they are together called the Perianth. The purpose of these envelopes is to protect the reproductive organs within, and also to aid in the fertilization of the flower, as their bright colors, fragrance and saccharine secretions serve to attract pollen-carrying insects. 

Insect-pollinated plants are called Entomopkilous. These, being dependent upon the visits of insects for fertilization, possess brilliantly colored corollas, have fragrant odors, and secrete nectar, a sweet liquid very attractive to insects, which are adapted to this work through the possession of a pollen-carrying apparatus. Example Orchids. 

In addition to gases, the troposphere contains solids in the form of dust, salts, and ice. Dust—tiny particles from Earth s surface, ash, soot, and plant pollen—enters the atmosphere when it is lifted from Earth s surface and carried by wind. The dust particles can cause sunsets to show spectacular colors, as you can see in Figure 26-2. Salts are picked up from ocean spray. Ice is present in the form of snowflakes and hailstones. The troposphere also contains liquids, the most common of which is water in the form of droplets found in clouds. Water is the only substance that exists as a solid, liquid, and gas in Earth s atmosphere. 

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