Pollen Morphology in Bignoniaceae in Relation to Taxonomy

Abstract

Palonological investigation of 49 species of the family Bignoniaceae distributed over 32 genera has been made. There is a great diversity in pollen morphological characters. The pollen grains may be united in tetrad as in Chilopsis saligna or free as in rest of the species. The pollen grains may be atreme 3,4,7 zonocolpate, 3 zonocolporoidate, 3,4, zonocolporate, parasyncolpate, monoporate, pantoporate, pantocolpate or anomotreme. Similarly the exine pattern varies from obscure to reticulate with occasional occurrence of retipilate, baculate types. Taking aperture as major and exine pattern as subsidiary characters as many as twelve distinct pollen types have been recognised.