Morphology, anatomy, palynology and achene micromorphology of Bellis L. (Asteraceae) species from Turkey

Abstract

In the present study, the morphological characters, root, stem and leaf anatomy, pollen and achene micromorphology of Bellis L. species (Bellis annua L., B. perennis L. and B. sylvestris Cirillo) distributed in Turkey have been investigated on light and scanning electron microscope. Palynological analysis showed that pollen characters were found as small to medium size, isopolar, radially symmetrical, oblate-spheroidal and prolatespheroidal, tricolporate and echinate-perforate ornamentation in the three species. Achene characters were found dark brown to yellow in colour, often cylindrical, compressed, with thickened margin, obovate orobovoid shaped, pappus absent and the coat ornamentations are rectangular with short hairs on the surface. As a result of this study, leaf morphology and some pollen characteristics such as pollen size, shape, perforation and distance between spines were demonstrated to be different among the Bellis species.