Pollen is a fantastic subject to study with a microscope. The diversity of shapes of pollen grains is enormous and a lot of interesting information can be derived from it.

The wide variety of colors in flowers and fruits is largely caused by pigment containing organelles called chromoplasts. Chromoplasts belong to the plastids and they are responsible for the bright red, orange and yellow colors in many fruits and flowers.

In the cells of most plants, crystals consisting of calcium oxalate are found which are formed by a process called  biomineralisation. It is thought that these crystals act as a storage reservoir for calcium and also provide for the storage of toxic waste (detoxification). The crystals come in a variety of shapes and some are characteristic of certain plant groups.

Stomata consist of specialised cells that mainly occur on the underside of leaves. They regulate the gas exchange between the plant and it’s environment, the plant is 'breathing' through them, as it were. Stomata are very recognizable by the two bean-shaped guard cells that regulate the size of the opening.

A few years ago I saw that the ditch behind our garden house at garden park Nieuw Vredelust was completely covered with some kind of duckweed. On closer inspection it turned out to be a water fern, so not a duckweed at all. It was the first time that I saw this in a ditch.