PJB-2023-589
Pollen morphological studies of the genus Veronica L. (Plantaginaceae) from lesser Himalayas, Pakistan
Shamila Firdous, Jan Alam, Manzoor Hussain, Alia Gul and Muhammad Qaiser
Abstract
Pollen morphological characters of 14 species belonging to the genus Veronica L. from Lesser Himalayas, Pakistan were studied. All the quantitative and qualitative morphological features of the pollen grains including pollen shape, size, apertures, exine thickness and ornamentation were investigated under light microscope (LM) and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). Palynological features of four species (namely V. biloba, V. pusilla, V. undulata and V. stewartii were studied for the first time. Pollen grains were mostly medium (more than 25µm), rarely (2 spp.) small sized (less than 25µm); prolate-spheroidal (5 spp.), spheroidal (4 spp.), subprolate (2 spp.), prolate (1 sp.), oblate-spheroidal (1 sp.) and oblate (1 sp.), generally free, radially symmetrical, isopolar and tricolpate. Tectum was generally striate (6 spp.), other tectum types viz., rugulate-punctate (4 spp.), rugulate (1 sp.), microreticulate-punctate (2 spp.) and striate-punctate (1 sp.) were also present. Based on exine sculpturing all the species were divided into three groups, viz. Veronica anagallis aquatica type having striate sculpturing tectum, Veronica biloba type characterized by rugulate sculpturing tectum and micro-reticulate sculpturing tectum. Exine sculpturing (tectum) is an important taxonomic character which could be used for distinguishing species
To Cite this article:
Firdous, S., J. Alam, M. Hussain, A. Gul and M. Qaiser. 2025. Pollen morphological studies of the genus Veronica L. (Plantaginaceae) from lesser Himalayas, Pakistan. Pak. J. Bot., 57(1): DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.30848/PJB2025-1(36)
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