Pollen, Pollenkitt, and Orbicules inCraigia bronniiFlower Buds (Tilioideae, Malvaceae) from the Miocene of Hambach, Germany

Lythrum and Peplis from the Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic of North America and Eurasia: New evidence suggesting early diversification within the Lythraceae

“…Over a 30-yr period, we have studied fossil palynofl oras from the Late Cretaceous (from Austria, Germany, Russia, and the United States; see among others Hofmann andZetter, 2007 , 2010 ;Zetter and Hickey, 2010 ) and the Cenozoic (Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Columbia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, Thailand, United States, and Venezuela; see among others Ferguson et al, 1998 ;Kovar-Eder et al, 1998 ;Hofmann, 2002 ;Zetter et al, 2002 ;Hofmann and Zetter, 2005 ;Zetter, 2006 ;Liu et al, 2007 ;Gr í msson et al, 2008 ;Denk et al, 2010 ). Over a 30-yr period, we have studied fossil palynofl oras from the Late Cretaceous (from Austria, Germany, Russia, and the United States; see among others Hofmann andZetter, 2007 , 2010 ;Zetter and Hickey, 2010 ) and the Cenozoic (Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Columbia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, Thailand, United States, and Venezuela; see among others Ferguson et al, 1998 ;Kovar-Eder et al, 1998 ;Hofmann, 2002 ;Zetter et al, 2002 ;Hofmann and Zetter, 2005 ;Zetter, 2006 ;Liu et al, 2007 ;Gr í msson et al, 2008 ;Denk et al, 2010 ).…”

“…Sedimentary samples -Numerous sedimentary samples from the northern and southern hemispheres were studied and screened for Lythraceae pollen grains. Over a 30-yr period, we have studied fossil palynofl oras from the Late Cretaceous (from Austria, Germany, Russia, and the United States; see among others Hofmann andZetter, 2007 , 2010 ;Zetter and Hickey, 2010 ) and the Cenozoic (Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Columbia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, Thailand, United States, and Venezuela; see among others Ferguson et al, 1998 ;Kovar-Eder et al, 1998 ;Hofmann, 2002 ;Zetter et al, 2002 ;Hofmann and Zetter, 2005 ;Zetter, 2006 ;Liu et al, 2007 ;Gr í msson et al, 2008 ;Denk et al, 2010 ). We used the single-grain technique described herein and found a few localities with pollen of Lythrum and/or Peplis .…”

Pollenkitt – its composition, forms and functions

“…Amorphous, highly electron-opaque substances (pollenkitt) and orbicules both very similar to those of recent Tilia, were observed on and between pollen grains of fossil flower buds of Craigia bronnii (Tilioideae, Malvaceae). Staining and sectioning of this amorphous substance demonstrated that it was indeed pollenkitt (Zetter et al, 2002, also for review).…”

Morphological and Ultrastructural Diversity of Orbicules in Gentianaceae

“…Tiwari and Gunning (1986) reported the presence of sporopollenin granules on the tapetal remnants in species with amoeboid tapeta, generally smaller in size than the orbicules produced by secretory tapeta. Orbicules have been recorded in some Cretaceous (Mesozoic) (Taylor and Alvin, 1984;Osborn et al, 1991;Serbet and Stockey, 1991;Archangelsky and Taylor, 1993) and Mioceneous (Cenozoic) (Zetter et al, 2002) seed plants which may indicate, along with the proposed plesiomorphic nature of the secretory tapetum (Pacini et al, 1985), that the presence of orbicules is a plesiomorphic feature of seed plants.…”