Palyno‐morphological attributes of some selected plant species of family Asteraceae from district Dera Ismail Khan, KPK, Pakistan

Abstract

The current study aimed to investigate the palyno‐morphological features of Asteraceous species from District Dera Ismail Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. A total of 13 species were collected, pressed, identified, and examined by using light and scanning electron microscopy. Both qualitative and quantitative pollen characters were observed, that is, equatorial and polar diameter, number of pores and colpi, exine thickness, exine sculpturing, pollen shape, and P/E ratio. Pollen shapes observed in studied taxa were spheroidal, suboblate, oblate‐spheroidal, and lophate‐spheroidal. The aperturation patterns of pollens vary from tricolporate to tetracolporate. The maximum polar and equatorial diameter of 75–100 (87.5 ± 13.6) μm and 87.5–117.5 (102.5 ± 16.4) μm, respectively, was recorded in Echinops echinatus, while minimum polar and equatorial diameter of 20–22.5 (21 ± 1.36) μm and 22.5–25 (23.5 ± 1.36) μm, respectively, was recorded in Aster subulatus. Six types of exine sculpturing patterns were observed; echinate, micro‐echinate, echinate‐microreticulate, microreticulate, echinate‐perforate, and scabrate. Maximum exine thickness of 8.75 μm was recorded in E. echinatus and minimum of 1.25 μm in Launaea mucronata. The pollen morphology has valuable significance in understanding the taxonomy of different plant groups and plays a central role in the correct identification and classification of Asteraceous flora at species, generic, and tribe levels.

Palyno‐taxonomic approach through light and scanning electron microscopy for the identification of herbaceous Asteraceae species from Sikaram Mountain Pak‐Afghan border

“…The Asteraceous taxa as a whole have eurypalynous containing zonocolporate type pollen (Ahmad et al, 2013;Gul et al, 2022). Pollen micromorphology was studied in the eight taxa of the genus Cousinia sect.…”

“…The Pollen morphology of Asteraceae has a great significance in the systematic of Asteraceae reported by various palynologists (Stanski et al, 2013). The Asteraceous taxa as a whole have eurypalynous containing zonocolporate type pollen (Ahmad et al, 2013; Gul et al, 2022). Pollen micromorphology was studied in the eight taxa of the genus Cousinia sect.…”

“…Similar clustering methods were applied based on pollen quantitative data for the differentiation of closely related taxa of Asteraceous flora (Ahmad et al, 2021). Clustering analysis will be useful in the differentiation of Asteraceous taxa at sections to species levels (Akhtar et al, 2021; Gul et al, 2022). PCA analysis was applied based on exine sculpturing for taxonomic delimitation among the investigated species of the Cousinia sect.…”