Okay! Let's get back into it!
This weeks microscopy features Hovea montana (Fabacaea)! These plants grow as small shrubs and can be found in NSW, Tas and in Victoria. They’re alpine plants and ocurr above 1200m in heathy and grassy areas. They have typical ‘pea’ flowers that visually are quite similar to the more common Hardenbergia violacaea (purple/blue with yellow on the inner standard petal)
A lot of the plant is covered in rusty-coloured, soft hairs (stems, underside of leaves, sepals, seed pods). It's quite a contrast to the glossy green topsides of their leaves.
But now to my favourite bit: the pollen! Typical pea plants like this guy have 10 stamen (male parts) arranged circularly around the carpel (female part). In this case, the stamen form a tubular sheath entirely around the carpel, with each seperating from each other just before the anthers. You can kind of see that here. Another thing you can see is that the anthers have dehisced their pollen into one big clump. This is typical, and makes it incredibly messy to dissect pea flowers. Pollen goes everywhere. I often have to clean it up with paintbrushes to get photos that aren't an absolute mess.
And to finish things off, here's an extra closeup of those anthers and pollen. :) Thanks for reading! Hope you like em.