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Pollen morphology of the tribe Sorbarieae (Rosaceae)

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Abstract

The pollen morphology of the tribe Sorbarieae (Adenostoma, Chamaebatiaria, Sorbaria, and Spiraeanthus) and two related genera Gillenia and Lyonothamnus was investigated by light, scanning electron, and transmission electron microscopy. Sorbarieae pollen was monad, tri-colporate, small to medium in size (P = 10.2–40.0 μm, E = 10.8–32.4 μm), and oblate to prolate in shape (P/E = 0.74–1.88). The sexine ornamentation was striate, but four different types could be divided: striate-psilate, striate-plicate, striate-microechinate, and striate-perforate. The pollen wall stratification typically consisted of unbranched columellae and a continuous endexine. As an additional palynological characteristic, orbicules (small sporopollenin granules) were observed in all taxa and thus a possible synapomorphic character of Sorbarieae as a whole. The pollen characteristics are useful to recognize certain taxa. Gillenia is the only genus with both a pore flap on the aperture and the perforated sexine. Lyonothamnus has a significantly thick exine and relatively larger pollen grains, which is compared to that of Sorbarieae. Some quantitative characteristics (e.g., pollen and colpus size, exine thickness, and ridge width of striae) identified using principal components analysis (PCA) may have diagnostic importance among the taxa in the tribe.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to our colleagues M.-J. Kong and M.-K. Ok for helping us in various ways. We also thank three anonymous reviewers and the handling editor Dr. Michael Hesse for their constructive comments. This research was supported by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Sciences and Technology (NRF-2012R1A1A2004149) to S.-P. Hong.

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  1. Laboratory of Plant Systematics, Department of Biology, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, 02447, Korea

    Jun-Ho Song, Hye-Kyoung Moon & Suk-Pyo Hong

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  1. Jun-Ho Song
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Correspondence to Suk-Pyo Hong.

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Handling editor: Michael Hesse.

Appendix

Appendix

Taxa

Voucher specimens

Adenostoma fasciculatum Hook. & Arn. var. fasciculatum

USA, California, San Mateo Co., 12 Jun 1941, Rose 41270 (GH)a, b

Adenostoma fasciculatum var. obtusifolium S.Watson

USA, California, San Diego Co., 22 Apr 1935, Purer 6492 (A)

Adenostoma sparsifolium Torr.

USA, California, San Diego Co., 25 Jul 1981, Spencer s.n. (GH)

Chamaebatiaria millefolium (Torr.) Maxim.

(1) USA, Idaho, Idaho Co., 08 Jul 1937, Thompson 14167 (GH)b

(2) USA, California, Inyo Co., 07 Jul 1937, Munz 14857 (GH)a

Gillenia trifoliata (L.) Moench

USA, Virginia, Smyth Co., 13 Jun 1892, Small s.n. (K)a

Lyonothamnus floribundus A.Gray subsp. floribundus

(1) USA, California, Los Angeles Co., 22 May 1962, Raven 17833 (GH)b

(2) USA, California, Los Angeles Co., 13 Jul 1908, Jepson 3045 (A)a

Lyonothamnus floribundus subsp. aspleniifolius (Greene) P.H. Raven

(1) USA, California, Los Angeles Co., 20 Jun 1971, Henrickson 5590 (GH)a

(2) USA, California, Los Angeles Co., 12 May 1982, Stein 917 (MO)b

Sorbaria arborea C.K.Schneid. var. arborea

(1) China, Sichuan Province, Shimian Co., 26 Sep 1992, Fliegner et al. 927 (K)a

(2) China, Shaanxi Province, Baoji City, 03 Jun 2008, Jianyong 1439 (SNUA)

Sorbaria arborea var. glabrata Rehder

China, Gansu Province, Tao River, Jul 1925, Rock 13143 (K)a

Sorbaria arborea var. subtomentosa Rehder

China, Sichuan Province, 01 Jan 1914, Wilson 2744 (K)a

Sorbaria grandiflora (Sweet) Maxim.

Russia, Buryatia, 01 Aug 1964, Siplivinskji s.n. (K)a, b

Sorbaria kirilowii (Regel & Tiling) Maxim.

(1) Korea, Gyeonggi-do, Mt. Samgaksan, 07 Jun 2010, Song 1060701 (KHUS)a, b

(2) China, Beijing, Prince Kung’s Mansion, 09 Jun 1930, Liou 111 (A)

Sorbaria rhoifolia Komarov

(1) Russia, Primorsky Krai, 14 Jul 1980, Vyshin 3030 (A)a

(2) Russia, Ayano-Mayskiy Distr., Khabarovskiy, without date, Kharkevich, s.n. (K)

Sorbaria sorbifolia (L.) A.Braun var. sorbifolia

(1) USA, Connecticut, New Haven, 07 Jul 1962, Neale s.n. (NEBC)a

(2) Canada, Quebec Province, Longueuil, 12 Jun 1917, Victorin 4341 (A)

Sorbaria sorbifolia var. stellipila Maxim.

(1) Korea, Gangwon-do, Mt. Taebaeksan, 28 Jul 2004, Lim s.n. (SNUA)

(2) Japan, Hokkaido, 27 Sep 1994, Yonekura 3519 (A)a

(3) Korea, Gangwon-do, Mt. Jeombongsan, 11 Aug 1979, Lee s.n. (SNUA)a

Sorbaria sorbifolia f. incerta (C.K.Schneid.) Kitag.

Korea, Gyeonggi-do, Gwangnung, 18 Jun 1986, Kim s.n. (KH)a

Sorbaria tomentosa (Lindl.) Rehder var. tomentosa

(1) Pakistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Chitral, 06 Jun 1968, Stainton 2588 (A)a, b

(2) Afghanistan, Aliseng River, 06 Jun 1971, Wilson and Hewer, 1053 (K)

Sorbaria tomentosa var. angustifolia (Wenz.) Rahn

Unknown site, 21 Jul 1905. W.G.B., s.n. (K)

Spiraeanthus schrenkianus (Fisch. & C.A.Mey.) Maxim.

(1) Kazakhstan, Shymkent, Mt. Karatau, 10 Jun 1982, Russanovich s.n. (A)a, b

(2) Kazakhstan, 18 Jun 1922, M. Popov s.n. (MO)

  1. Herbarium acronyms are in accordance with Thiers (2014) [continuously updated] Index Herbariorum
  2. aOrbicule presence checked
  3. bTEM observation

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Song, JH., Moon, HK. & Hong, SP. Pollen morphology of the tribe Sorbarieae (Rosaceae). Plant Syst Evol 302, 853–869 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-016-1303-9

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