Abstract
A palynological and multivariate study of six species of Tamarix L. distributed in Egypt was carried out. Pollen morphology was examined by Light Microscope (LM) and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The systematic study of these species was conducted by means of numerical analysis using UPGMA clustering and PCO analysis based on 33 morphological characters, including life form, vegetative parts, fruits, floral characters, seeds and pollen grains. Pollen grains were found to be monads, radially symmetrical, isopolar, small-sized and homocolpate. Tamarix nilotica can be easily separated from other taxa by its subprolate pollen shape. Two major clades were identified by multivariate analysis of morphological characters; one of them included three species, namely T. amplexicaulis, T. passerinoides and T. macrocarpa. Our results indicate that there is a wide range of morphological similarity among the species of section Polyadenia. The other clade included T. aphylla, T. tetragyna and T. nilotica from section Tamarix and section Oligadenia.Keywords: Tamarix; Pollen Morphology; Numerical Taxonomy; UPGMA Cluster; PCO, Egypt.Bangladesh J. Plant Taxon. 24(1): 91105, 2017 (June)
Highlights
Tamarix L. is one of the four genera of Tamaricaceae, and consists of halophytic shrubs and dwarf trees native to Europe, Asia, southern and northern Africa (Baum,1978).The taxonomy of Tamarix is notoriously complex (Bunge, 1852; Zohary, 1972; Baum, 1978; Villar et al, 2014)
The objectives of this work are to investigate suitability of pollen morphology for distinguishing Egyptian Tamarix and by using 33 characters, how do multivariate analyses agree with the sectional placement of the genus Tamarix
The specimens were coated with gold in an Apolaron E1100 ion sputtering device, viewed at 25–30 kv in a JOEL JSM 5300 scanning electron microscope
Summary
Tamarix L. is one of the four genera of Tamaricaceae, and consists of halophytic shrubs and dwarf trees native to Europe, Asia, southern and northern Africa (Baum,1978).The taxonomy of Tamarix is notoriously complex (Bunge, 1852; Zohary, 1972; Baum, 1978; Villar et al, 2014). The most recent global revision of the genus Tamarix by Baum (1978) includes three featured sections, viz. Tamarix, Oligadenia and Polyadenia, separated primarily by petal length, number of stamens, shape of androecial disk and attachment of filament insertion on the androecial disk. These sections are split into nine series based on several floral and vegetative characters. Intermediate forms have been observed for many characters which are used in identification of taxa within the genus, and these characters usually vary seasonally on the same individual (Rusanov,1949)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
