Beekeepers Pollen Gallery
Every flowering plant produces different sizes, shapes and colour of pollen. This page is a collection of pollen photographs, taken from known plants (i.e. the pollen was collected from the flower of that plant). That way I hope to better recognise the pollen that my bees are collecting. The gallery will grow over time. All photographs and images copyright Read Apiaries 2025.
Equipment used: Zenith ML2000 trinocular compound microscope. It’s an old microscope and I had to 3D print my own phototube (openSCAD design can be found here) and acquire a x0.3 reducing lens to use with an ImagingSource (c) 1/4 inch size sensor.
Photo’s below are at x100, x400 or x1000 magnification (see photo label). Pollen size measured at x400, with the size marker added to the photo. Basic Fushil is used to stain the pollen on the slide so that it’s exine (outer layer) structure is visible, i.e. the photos don’t represent the colour of the pollen as seen on the flower or the bee.
Gorse (Ulex europaeus)
Collected 9/2/25. Orange Brown Pollen
Crocus
Collected 6/2/25. Orange Pollen
Hazel (Corylus Avellana)
Collected 6/2/25. Known to to be a very consistent size. Yellow Pollen
Viburnum Lantana
Collected 6/2/25. Yellow Pollen
Wild Cherry (Prunus Avium)
Collected 9/3/25. Light Brown Pollen
Daffodil (Narcissus)
Collected 1/4/25. Boat shaped with one furrow. Yellow Pollen.
Dandelion (Taraxacum)
Collected 3/4/25. Orange Pollen.
Forsythia
Collected 10/4/25
