A Little Bit More
Goldenrod has gotten a bad rap for a long time. Many people have assumed since it is blooming in late summer/early fall when their hayfever really kicks up, that it must be this plant. Now you know better!
There are many different kinds of goldenrod species in North America and they all have small, yet fragrant, attractive flowers for insects. Goldenrod flowers have a heavy, sticky pollen that easily sticks to visiting insects and is then carried to other plants for pollination. If you closely watch insects as they visit goldenrod, you’ll often see them covered in pollen grains.
Ragweed and many other flowering plants have a different pollen dissemination strategy. These plants have small, “uninviting” flowers with lots of light, easily-airborne pollen for air transfer. They don’t need insects to visit and move their pollen to another flower – the breeze does it for them. Since it’s the airborne pollens that cause hayfever suffers so much grief, goldenrod is definitely not guilty!
Activities
Science – Check It Out
Objectives: Get a good look at pollen
Materials: Access to at least one flower, magnifying glass or hand lens
Although most of us have heard about pollen, I’m not so sure that many really know what it looks like. I think it would be a valuable exercise to try and find a flower and take a look at its pollen. Keep in mind that pollen on one kind of plant is not the same as on another – pollen varies a great deal and can even be used to identify one species from another closely related species.
Find one or more flowers (can even be growing on a houseplant) and use a magnifying glass or handlens so you can get a good look at the pollen. Use the website included here to determine where on a flower you will need to look for the pollen and then see if you can get a bit on your finger. (At certain times of the year, in some locations, pollen may blanket cars, lawn furniture, sidewalks, puddles, and other outdoor areas, with its abundance. Scoop up a bit of this to have on hand when you want to see this plant product)
Very basic flower anatomy
Some questions you may want to pursue:
1. Bees collect pollen and take it back to their hives/nests. Why do they collect it?
2. Can you find out if humans ever eat pollen?
3. Pollen is produced in enormous quantities by each flower. Can you think why they produce so much?
4. Pollen found in the fossil record can be very helpful to paleontologists; why might this be so?
Key Concepts
Structures and Functions, Reproduction, Identification, Growth and Development, Environmental Issues
Questions
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