Pollen from Common Knapweed (Centaurea nigra, Asteraceae) confocal microscopy z-stacks
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Contributor: Oliver Wilson (University of Reading)
Number of printable pieces: 1
Recommended print material: Polyactic acid (PLA)
Licence: CC Attribution
Overview
Pollen from common knapweed (Centaurea nigra, Asteraceae).
Although common knapweed is considered a weed, it is one of the best plants for pollinators in the UK, producing large amounts of both nectar and pollen.
This pollen grain appears to have partly caved in on one side, either due to dehydration or to the chemical processing used to prepare it for scanning.
Technical description of Centaurea pollen, from PalDat (Halbritter, 2016): medium-sized isopolar monads, spheroidal or prolate, circular or lobate in polar view, tricolporate, with an echinate exine.
This model is part of the 3D Pollen Project.
In action photo
