Abstract
The morphology and ultrastructure of fresh pollen from nine species, one including two varieties representing seven genera of Annonaceae are described based on observations with scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The pollen grains are elliptic with a single furrow, or disulculate. Some are globose with no visible aperture or any indication of a pole. Ornamentation is smooth, rugulate, echinate or verrucate. The tectum is usually continuous and of the same thickness over the whole grain except for the aperture zone, where the exine elements are very often imperceptible. The infratectum may be granular, or columellae and granules are mixed together. The foot layer consists of continuous or irregularly contorted foliations. The endexine is distinct and thin, and varies slightly in thickness in some species, but is vaguely distinguishable in others. The intine is two-layered and consists of an entexine with many vesicular-fibrillar components with tubular extensions, and a more homogeneous endintine. The controversy around the presence of an endexine in Annonaceae is discussed, but whether its presence is ancestral cannot be determined. Data on fresh pollen are compared with those from similar studies on dried pollen.
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Acknowledgments
This study was financially supported by the National Sciences Foundation of China (grant number 31270227, 30770140), the Knowledge Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (grant number KSCX2-EW-J-28) and the Key Laboratory of Plant Resources Conservation and Sustainable Utilization. The authors thank Mrs. Xiaoying Hu for her technical assistance with the SEM and Mrs. Xinlan Xu for assistance with TEM at the South China Botanical Garden, and also Mr. Qiang Wei for collecting samples. An anonymous reviewer and Jim Doyle are acknowledged for their helpful comments on a previous version of this manuscript.
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Xu, F., de Craene, L.P.R. Pollen morphology and ultrastructure of selected species from Annonaceae. Plant Syst Evol 299, 11–24 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-012-0698-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-012-0698-1