Pollen dimorphism in Ephedra L.(Ephedraceae)

The pollen of three Ephedra taxa, Ephedra torreyana, E. trifurca and E. funerealeft right double arrowE. torreyana, showed a marked pollen dimorphism when examined using scanning electron microscopy. Typical pollen grains in all of these taxa have straight ridges, but the variant forms exhibit a highly folded ectexine. In addition, previously used characters such as the presence or absence of bifurcating valley structure do not appear to be uniform, even within a single microsporangium, suggesting that their value to taxonomic study should be reassessed. Published in Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, volume 124, issue 3-4, on pages 325 - 334, in 2003.

Categories: Publication; Types: Citation, Journal Citation; Tags: Ephedra, Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, pollen dimorphism, section Alatae