The 3D Pollen library collection infocus #76 December 2024

A fine dust to the naked eye, exquisite in microscopic form and fundamentally important to life on earth. Pollen grains contain the male gametes (i.e., sperm cells) from a flower’s anther that are essential for reproduction in seed-bearing plants thus are pivotal to the ecosystems and foods that we take for granted.

DOI: 10.22443/rms.inf.1.277

As well as being critical to life, pollen records the evolutionary course of plant taxa in the geological strata, allowing scientists to understand and map environmental change; has relevance to forensic science, serving to establish links between objects, people and places; and represents a powerful allergen, causing hay fever in up to 30% of the world’s population. Without overstating the obvious, pollen counts.