Collecting pollen for analyses

If the flowers are clustered in a raceme, catkin, umbel or other tight grouping, however, pollen can be shaken from the entire raceme onto a glass plate and piled up with a single edged razor blade. I found it worked best with racemes that had been stood in water indoors for several days, allowing additional flowers to mature their anthers. First, start with a clean, dry pane of glass. Holding the raceme over the glass, pass a vibrating tuning fork (or other sonicator) through the raceme. Pollen should rain down on the glass surface.

Use a single-edged razor blade to push and pile the pollen on the glass surface, then simply scoop up to transfer to the desired vial or microcentrifuge tube. The technique also works well with roses and other flowers presenting a “shaving brush” of anthers.

I am indebted to Steve Buchmann for showing me this technique decades ago.