Abstract
Pollen grain of 16 species and three hybrids of the genus <em>Amygdalus</em> L., representing two subgenera and two sections distributed in Iran were examined by light and scanning electron microscopy. All pollen grains are tricolporate. The shape of grains varies from subprolate through prolate. Regarding outline, in polar view, pollen grains are triangular-circular and in equatorial view, elliptic. Regarding sculpturing of exine, the frequent type like many members of family <em>Rosaceae</em> is striate with or without perforations that can be subdivided into three subtypes: type I (A-B), type II (A-B) and type V. In three species, <em>A. trichamygdalus</em>, <em>A. spinosissima</em> and <em>A. orientalis</em>, exine sculpture type is completely different. In the first species is rugulate, in the second species is reticulate and in <em>A. orientalis</em>, it is gemmate-perforate. Ornamentation of ridges (muri) in the striate sculpture is parallel to ectocolpus. Number of perforations in tectum, diameter of them, striae intervals and the thickness of ridges varies among studied taxa. The striae have different depth and slope. Results showed that among pollen grain characters, shape is useful character solely for separating of taxonomic ranks in Iranian Amygdalus specially in subgeneric or section level.
Highlights
The genus Amygdalus L. is one of the genera of tribe Amygdaleae, subfamily Spiraeoideae in Rosaceae (Potter et al 2007)
Amygdalus is one of the most problematic genera in family Rosaceae and taxonomy of this genus like many other genera in family Rosaceae such as: Crataegus L., Pyrus L., Cotoneaster Medik., Rosa L. and Rubus L. deals with numerous problems because of high degree of variation in morphological characters under different ecological conditions (Khatamsaz 1993)
The main aim of this paper is to present a detailed study on pollen morphology of Iranian species of Amygdalus and to use the results of pollen features for evaluating of taxonomic relationships among Amygdalus species in Iran
Summary
The genus Amygdalus L. is one of the genera of tribe Amygdaleae, subfamily Spiraeoideae (formerly subfamily Prunoideae) in Rosaceae (Potter et al 2007). Amygdalus is one of the most problematic genera in family Rosaceae and taxonomy of this genus like many other genera in family Rosaceae such as: Crataegus L., Pyrus L., Cotoneaster Medik., Rosa L. and Rubus L. deals with numerous problems because of high degree of variation in morphological characters under different ecological conditions (Khatamsaz 1993). It shows high degree of variation within one species, high hybridization inter species and high homoplasy under ecological conditions. Micromorphological characters are more constant and provide efficient, reliable and detailed data for distinguishing taxonomic relation-
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