silica
Barry Meyers-Rice (barry@as.arizona.edu)
Fri, 21 Jan 94 08:21:25 MST
>On the orchids e-mail group someone explained how they store orchid pollen -
>Pollen is put on glass slides in a sealed container with silica gel on the
>bottom to absorb moisture, then the container is put in the refrigerator for
>two days. After that, the silica gel is removed and the pollen can then be
>stored in the freezer in a sealed container. The pollen remains viable for
>nearly a year.
This is very interesting. I am surprised that the silica gel doesn't
completely dessicate the pollen to such a degree that the pollen is
killed. I would think that pollen has to be pretty sturdy stuff in order
to survive, but not much in natural selection can prepare pollen for being
sealed in a container of silica gel!
Barry