Collections

Reference-slides of pollen grains and spores

Preparation of pollen slides


1 Collecting of polleniferous material from a well identified herbarium specimen. The specimen is labelled by a special label from palynological laboratory. This label has a number identical to a number that will be fixed to the slide preparation when it is ready. This labelling helps to keep track between slide preparation and herbarium specimen for further possible studies on the same material.

2 Pollen material is treated with Erdtman acetolysis mixture (9 acetic anhydride : 1 sulphuric acid) for 10 min. at 70 centigrades.

3 The pollen material is then washed with water 2 times, centrifuged, filtered through a brass screen with ca. 300 meshes /sq.cm.and mixed with 50% glycerine in water, centrifuged and mounted in glycerine jelly and sealed with paraffin wax.
Pollen slides are maintained in a good condition for more than a hundred years.

Examples of reference pollen slides.
Examples of reference pollen slides.
White label indicates Europe,
green indicates Asia and blue
for North America
Pollen collections are of special interest in the following research areas:
  • Systematic Botany
  • Aeropalynology
  • Forensic palynology
  • Melittopalynology
  • Quaternary geology

International collection


This collection is one of the internationally most significant collections. It contains more than 25000 slide collections of different plant families.

Scandinavian collection


Includes ca 100 plant families. Special efforts are in progress to complete this collection.
Gunnar Erdtman (1898 - 1973)
Gunnar Erdtman
(1898 - 1973)

Historical collection


Includes an important collection of the famous Swedish professor Gunnar Erdtman, the founder of the Palynological Laboratory, Stockholm in 1948. This collection is of historical value since it contains many important "types", original descriptions, and drawings of pollen grains.
Slides of Erdmann's collection
Slides of Erdmann's collection
Drawing, Man sitting on Betula pollen playing his flute (Erdtman 1967)
Man sitting on Betula pollen
playing his flute (Erdtman 1967)

Other collections

Aeropalynology


Slides of airborne pollen and spores

Melissopalynology


Slide preparations of "bee-plants", from honey and bee-burdens.

Photo archive


Light microscopic (LM) pictures of pollen grains.

Scanning electron microscopic (SEM) pictures of pollen grains.

Transmission electron microscopic (TEM) pictures of pollen grains.

Library


One of the most comprehensive libraries in the world in the fields of Palynology and Aerobiology.

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Page updated: 2010-10-04
The Swedish Museum of Natural History
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