Re: [ HYB: questions - pollen, cristata X bearded]




Jan Clark wrote:
> 
 
> Patrick do you know for sure that there is not a single pollen cell left on
> the toothpick after you have 'cleaned' it. I wouldn't risk using the same
> tooth pick twice. They are cheap enough to chuck away.

A complete pollen "Grain" is needed to accomplish pollination. I don't
think a single cell from a grain carries all the necessary components. I
would have to get into the research a little to see if a pollen grain is
a single cell structure, but I don't think so, and individual grains are
certainly large enough to be seen.


> Also, you do risk sensitising yourself to the pollen you ingest, even if
> only a small amount. The reason people are allergic to some bee stings, and
> not others is that the bees carry different types of pollen, from different
> flowers. 

As a bee keeper, I don't think that the pollen that is collected by an
individual bee affects the poison in the stinger sac (interior to the
bee). The pollen in not ingested by the worker collecting it, and is
compacted on the upper portion of the rear legs for transport to the
hive, not the stinger.

> Pollen is highly allergenic material. People have been known to
> have major anaphylactic reactions to pollens (and bee stings) who have
> previously not shown any reaction.

All true, but particularily in the case of pollen, the method that it is
introduced to the body has a major impact on how the body reacts to it.
Ingesting it orally is not nearly the same as having it introduced
through the mucous membranes of the nasal passages.



John                     | "There be dragons here"
                         |  Annotation used by ancient cartographers
                         |  to indicate the edge of the known world.
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