Pollen grain. Coloured environmental scanning electron micrograph (ESEM) of a pollen grain from a lily (Lilium sp.), showing its highly-sculpted outer coat, or exine. Pollen grains contain the male sex cells. They are produced by the anthers on the ends of stamens, the male parts of the flower. The grains are most commonly dispersed by insects or on the wind, some landing on the tip, or stigma, of the female part of a flower, the carpel, resulting in fertilization. Unlike a conventional scanning electron micrograph (SEM), samples placed into an environmental SEM do not need to be desiccated or coated in gold. Magnification unknown.

Keywords: biology, botany, coloured, environmental, esem, exine, horizontal, lilium sp., lily, nature, plant, plants, pollen grain, pollination, reproduction, reproductive, scanning electron micrograph, sem

SPL Reference Number: B786/630

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