Saintpaulia ionantha - African violet

Microscopic photos of African Violet (Saintpaulia ionantha) petals.

I scraped the upper epidermis of a petal of Saintpaulia ionantha (African Violet) with a scalpel and placed the sample in a glass slide with water, put a glass coverslip on top. I used magnifications of 60x, 150x and 600x. 

It is possible to see various structures of cells and tissues, such as the cytoplasm, cell wall, and glandular digestive hairs (P.4, P. 5).

These are the results:

P. 1 - 60x

P. 2 - 150x

P. 3 - 600x

P. 4 - 60x

P. 5 - 150x

Rhinechis scalaris / Elaphe scalaris

This Post is about the amazing Rhinechis scalaris or Elaphe scalaris. I found this youngster in Serra do Louro, Setúbal, Portugal. I took some photographs. What do you think?


This a quite aggressive snake. They grow up to 1,50 meters.


They live in Europe. From Portugal to the east and no further than Italy.


Its name - scalaris (which means ladder / stairs) - Ladder snake(En) - Cobra de escada(Pt) - comes from the pattern they have in their backs.

Range map

Range map source: Wikimedia Commons

Northern-portuguese stream

 When I went on my trip to the north of Portugal I found a fresh water stream. I've been walking on that stream for 4 days and, only in that small area and I found: Rana iberica, Rana perezi, Natrix Maura eating a trout, 10 other Natrix Maura, a Natrix natrix, a Lacerta schreiberi and a Bufo bufo. 

Rana iberica

Rana iberica

Natrix Maura

Natrix Maura

Natrix natrix

Lacerta schreiberi

Merops Apiaster

I saw this strange bird on the sky, I realised it was a Merops Apiaster (European Bee-eater). The fly really high and they seem like a big swallow, but with a lighter color. This bird produces a high, distinctive sound. I knew what type of nest they make: Holes in dry dirt.
I went on a walk to find the nest, wich i did. I found a hole in wall of dry dirt. I set up a tent and slightly opened the door. Then I  waited. The birds started calling and its offspring were also peeping. The beautiful bird came to the hole several times to feed the offspring. This was in Arrábida. Here's what I got: