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Pollen morphology of the Boschniakia–Epifagus clade (Orobanchaceae): implications for taxonomy and phylogeny

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Summary

Molecular phylogenetic studies have revealed an entirely holoparasitic Boschniakia–Epifagus clade within Orobanchaceae. Pollen morphology of seven species, four studied for the first time, belonging to five currently recognised genera was studied using both light and scanning electron microscopy. Pollen grains are (2 –) 3 (– 4)-colpate, rarely 3-colporate and inaperturate (reported in Epifagus for the first time); suboblate to prolate (P/E = 0.77 – 1.56) in shape; medium and rarely small-sized: Polar axis = 14.63 – 34.58 µm, Equatorial diameter = 14.63 – 30.59 µm. Colpi are long, medium-length or short, wide or narrow, and acute, obtuse, or with indistinct ends. Exine sculpture is rather diverse: reticulate, microreticulate, rugulate-granulate, granulate-perforate, rugulate-perforate, and granulate. The data obtained demonstrate that pollen grains of the studied taxa are morphologically rather diverse and can, therefore, be distinguished at the levels of genera and species. The diagnostic features include shape and size of pollen grains, length and width of colpi, exine thickness in mesocolpia and apocolpia, and exine sculpture. Palynomorphological data are interpreted within the current phylogenetic framework. An UPGMA dendrogram, based on quantitative characters of the pollen grains, supports the status of Xylanche as a genus.

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Acknowledgements

The authors express their gratitude to James C. Solomon, Head Curator of the Missouri Botanical Garden Herbarium (MO; St. Louis, Missouri, USA), and Natalia M. Shyian, Head Curator of the National Herbarium of Ukraine (KW; herbarium of the M.G. Kholodny Institute of Botany, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine). The kind help and cooperation of Dmytro O. Klymchuk, Head of the Center of Electron Microscopy (M.G. Kholodny Institute of Botany, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine), are greatly appreciated. The authors are very grateful to Gerald M. Schneeweiss (University of Vienna, Austria) for his valuable comments and critically reading and substantially improving the manuscript. The authors are grateful to anonymous reviewers for their detailed review of the manuscript, valuable comments and suggestions.

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  1. Department of Systematics and Floristics of Vascular Plants M. G. Kholodny Institute of Botany, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 2, Tereshchenkivska St., Kyiv, 01004, Ukraine

    Zoya M. Tsymbalyuk, Sergei L. Mosyakin & Lyudmila M. Nitsenko

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Tsymbalyuk, Z.M., Mosyakin, S.L. & Nitsenko, L.M. Pollen morphology of the Boschniakia–Epifagus clade (Orobanchaceae): implications for taxonomy and phylogeny. Kew Bull 78, 563–575 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12225-023-10131-x

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