Abstract
Abstract Very little is known about the germination of compound pollen grains of Angiosperms. Pollen of Acacia auriculaeformis, Asclepias curassavica, Calliandra surinamensis, Enterolobium saman, Hoya lacunosa, Mimosa pudica, Nepenthes ampullaria, and Pithecellobium dulce were used to study germination in vitro. Pollen characters for these species are also given. Sucrose media of 10–30% concentration were found suitable for germination, though the optimal concentration varied with the individual species. Pollinia of C. surinamensis failed to germinate in vitro, but those of H. lacunosa showed excellent germination and pollen tube lengths were found similar to, or exceeding those found in nature. In other species percentage germination was satisfactory but good tube length was not achieved. Bursting of pollen grains was more common at the lower sucrose concentrations than at higher. There appears to be some correlation between the size of the germinating unit and its internal osmotic pressure, the larger units appearing to possess a higher internal osmotic pressure than the smaller ones. This increase of internal osmotic pressure with degree of microspore aggregation is possibly due to some form of interaction of the component units through the thin separating walls.
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