A Pollen morphological analysis of south indian lecythidaceae

Lecythidaceae comprises members which are either trees or shrubs. In South India the family is represented by five species coming in three genera. The pollen morphology of all the five species was examined using LM and SEM observations. The pollen grains are basically 3-zonoaperturate and the aperture structure varies from syncolpate, to syncolporate and colporate. The shape of the pollen grains and the exine surface ornamentation also differ in different genara and species. Even though the pollen grains in some members are syncolporate the pollen has unique morphological features that are quite different from that of other Myrtallean members in many aspects which justifies their separation from this order.