MicrobeWorld

Confocal micrograph of wheat stigma hairs (blue) infected with ergot fungus (light pink). The stigma is the female part of the plant. The plant is fertilised by the (male) pollen grain, which sticks to a stigma hair causing growth of a pollen tube into the plant's ovary, causing an embryonic wheat grain to develop.

2011 Wellcome Image Awards

Credit: ANNA GORDON, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF AGRICULTURAL BIOLOGY, AND FERNAN FEDERICI, UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE