With the warmer and certainly wetter late winter temperatures upon us, the Juniper trees are pollinating in great numbers, covering everything with a yellow powder. We set out a microscope slide outside for a night, and by morning, it was coated with loads of yellow Juniper pollen. Examination of the pollen revealed a rather bland uninteresting spherical shape, with a dimpled exterior. Since no other details were present, I added a drop of water and cover slip over the pollen and discovered that I could now see the interior cellular structure through the outer coating. Then something amazing happened - Within minutes, all the pollen started bursting open, and spilled out their contents within a time span of around 5 seconds per pollen granule! What emerged was unexpected - an droplet of oil (lipids actually) with the fully detailed reproductive cell inside. Here are some photos of the action!

Click these thumnails for the full size view:

In air and at 600x, there were only yellow jelly beans to see. The exterior was dimpled with a patterning. But nothing was to be seen inside. I thought maybe if I added water and a cover slip I could use the oil immersion lens and see better the dimpling.

By immersing the pollen in water, the pollens outer covering was completely transparent! The three on the lower right have not bursted yet, and you can see right through the waxy coat. On the left several have emerged from their outer shell, and become free floating contained in a drop of lipids. The open husk can be seen as well. The water triggered this response.

Just before they burst, this is a 1500x view with the oil immersion lens of two pollen granules in water. Look at the internal details! Apparently the optical density of the shell is similar to water and it makes it appear as transparent as glass.

Freshly burst pollen granule at 1500x. The clear oily droplet surrounds the inner cell.

Clear view at 1500x of the individual inside the oily droplet. When the pollen reaches the female part of the flower it does this and releases the male reproductive cells.

The cell here has emerged from its oily droplet and pollen husk and is free floating. The internal details are astounding!

Two empty husks at 1500x.