Literary notes about pollen (AI summary)
The term “pollen” has been employed in literature with a range of nuanced meanings. In scientific and botanical texts, such as those by Darwin, it is portrayed with clinical precision—as in detailed descriptions of its formation, dispersal, and role in fertilization [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]—while agricultural reports elaborate on its practical applications in breeding programs and pollination schedules [7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24]. In contrast, literary works often harness the imagery of pollen to evoke the transient beauty of nature: Hardy’s depiction of yellow pollen bronzing boots [25], Joyce’s sensory portrayal of pollen floating in the air [26], and Proust’s incidental observation of it on a dress [27] all underscore its delicate, ephemeral quality. Moreover, “Pollen” occasionally appears as a proper noun, serving as a surname in letters and satirical pieces [28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33]. Together, these diverse uses illuminate how the word transcends its biological origins to enrich both scientific discourse and poetic expression.
- In other orchids the threads cohere at one end of the pollen-masses; and this forms the first or nascent trace of a caudicle.
— from The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection by Charles Darwin - The petals in the imperfect flowers almost always consist of mere rudiments, and the pollen-grains are reduced in diameter.
— from The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection by Charles Darwin - Now, it is scarcely possible for insects to fly from flower to flower, and not to carry pollen from one to the other, to the great good of the plant.
— from The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection by Charles Darwin - When an insect visits a flower of this kind, it rubs off some of the viscid matter, and thus at the same time drags away some of the pollen-grains.
— from The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection by Charles Darwin - Thus, in plants, the office of the pistil is to allow the pollen-tubes to reach the ovules within the ovarium.
— from The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection by Charles Darwin - They usually consist of a filament and an anther, the anther being the essential part in which the pollen, or fecundating dust, is formed.
— from The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection by Charles Darwin - CJA crossed with pollen from the Roxbury Americans gave 20 nuts.
— from Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the 44th Annual Meeting - This pollination schedule was used to avoid prolonged storing of the pollen.
— from Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the 44th Annual Meeting - It is conceivable that by crossing this hybrid with Chinese pollen that something unusual could be produced.
— from Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the 44th Annual Meeting - Pollen Receptivity of Female Flowers Chestnut is monecious.
— from Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the 44th Annual Meeting - The butternut is the first to shed pollen in Indiana with the catkins dropping, in some years, by late April and the first week in May.
— from Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the 44th Annual Meeting - Emasculation and bagging was done at the beginning of anthesis, that is, when the first unisexual male catkins began to shed pollen.
— from Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the 44th Annual Meeting - Three different pollen sources were used on each female parent; they were of the same species or hybrid combination as the female.
— from Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the 44th Annual Meeting - Sometimes pollen shedding is over before pistils are receptive.
— from Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the 44th Annual Meeting - The catkins shed pollen when the temperature and atmospheric conditions are normal.
— from Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the 44th Annual Meeting - Varieties above the dividing line are shedding pollen at the time varieties in the same column below the line are receptive.
— from Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the 44th Annual Meeting - lf to two-thirds of the pollen had been shed.
— from Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the 44th Annual Meeting - Normally, the pistillate flowers will reach full development sometime between these two periods of pollen shedding
— from Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the 44th Annual Meeting - Nuts are always (with exceptions) a result of fertilization of the flowers with the pollen from another tree.
— from Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the 44th Annual Meeting - In about an equal number of cases the pistils lose their receptivity before pollen is shed.
— from Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the 44th Annual Meeting - Many times the pollen is dispersed before the pistillate flowers are formed.
— from Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the 44th Annual Meeting - In 1952, the shedding of pollen started on April 29.
— from Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the 44th Annual Meeting - Chinese pollen was used on both trees.
— from Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the 44th Annual Meeting - I got busy with the Cochrane pollen and a brush and went to work on the Crath pistillate bloom.
— from Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the 44th Annual Meeting - Boldwood went meditating down the slopes with his eyes on his boots, which the yellow pollen from the buttercups had bronzed in artistic gradations.
— from Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy - The chestnuts that shaded us were in bloom: the air drooped with their persuasive odour and with pollen floating by us.
— from Ulysses by James Joyce - Look, there is a little—I think it must be pollen, spilt over your dress,—may I brush it off with my hand?
— from Swann's Way by Marcel Proust - I have the honour to be, your increased admirer, JOHN POLLEN.
— from Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 1, August 7, 1841 by Various - Yours very affec tly , J. A. FOOTNOTE: [17] The present Lady Pollen, of Redenham, near Andover, then at a school in London.
— from The Letters of Jane Austen by Jane Austen - Sir Edward Pollen succeeds Lord Gambier in his command, and some captain of his succeeds Frank; and I believe the order is already gone out.
— from The Letters of Jane Austen by Jane Austen - MY LORD,—It would have afforded me satisfaction to have consulted the wishes of Sir John Pollen in regard to the publication of this correspondence.
— from Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 1, August 7, 1841 by Various - I have the honour to be, your admirer, JOHN POLLEN.
— from Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 1, August 7, 1841 by Various - Sir John Pollen, Bart.
— from Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 1, August 7, 1841 by Various
