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Pollen morphology and wall structure of Neotropical species of Herreria and Clara (Asparagaceae-Agavoideae) and its taxonomic implications

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Abstract

Pollen morphology and wall structure of Clara and Herreria were investigated in order to clarify their taxonomy. Materials treated with a lactic acetolysis method at 40 % were used to obtain measurements, descriptions, and illustrations using light microscopy. Non-acetolyzed pollen grains were analyzed with scanning electron microscopy to characterize the surface details and apertures. As a result of this work, an identification key was prepared for Clara and Herreria species based on pollen morphology. All species present medium-sized pollen that are also heteropolar, elliptic amb, and monocolpate, with perforate, microreticulate, or reticulate surfaces. The two species of Clara differ with regard to their colpus dimensions and sexine ornamentation, and the seven species of Herreria can be distinguished by their sexine ornamentation, confidence interval values for the largest diameters, and colpi width. It was concluded that pollen morphology proved to be uninformative for differentiating the genera Clara and Herreria, but useful for distinguishing between related species.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge Noêmia Rodrigues Gonçalves (Laboratório de Ultraestrutura Celular do Instituto de Biofísica da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro) for the technical support and the financial support of FAPERJ, CNPq for the grants to the second and last author and the fellowship for the third author), Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for the return fellowship to the fourth author, and Jim Hesson of AcademicEnglishSolutions.com revised the English language.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Botânica, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Rosana Conrado Lopes & Marcelo Trovó

  2. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas e Ambientais, Universidade Santa Úrsula, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Regina Helena Potsch Andreata

  3. Departamento de Botânica, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Museu Nacional, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Vania Gonçalves-Esteves

  4. CNPq Scholarship, Universidade Estadual do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Simone Cartaxo-Pinto

Authors
  1. Rosana Conrado Lopes
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  2. Regina Helena Potsch Andreata
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  3. Simone Cartaxo-Pinto
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  4. Marcelo Trovó
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  5. Vania Gonçalves-Esteves
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Vania Gonçalves-Esteves.

Additional information

R. H. P. Andreata and V. Gonçalves-Esteves received CNPq productivity scholarship.

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Lopes, R.C., Andreata, R.H.P., Cartaxo-Pinto, S. et al. Pollen morphology and wall structure of Neotropical species of Herreria and Clara (Asparagaceae-Agavoideae) and its taxonomic implications. Plant Syst Evol 299, 25–34 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-012-0699-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-012-0699-0

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