Pollen Morphology of Pinus mugo Turra × Pinus sylvestris L. Hybrids and Parental Species in an Experimental Culture

Abstract

Pollen grains of Pinus mugo, P. sylvestris and P. ×rhaetica (= P. mugo × P. sylvestris) were examined by light and scanning electron microscopy. The pollen grains were bisaccate and monosulcate. The corpus-saccus attachment was distinct. The pollen corpus exine sculpture was verrucate-rugulate and deeply sculptured. The surface of the tectum was covered with small grana and it was perforate. The saccus sexine ornamentation was reticulate and irregularly perforate. The tectum surface characters in the proximal and distal view of the corpus and saccus were less variable and they did not provide good criteria to identify the species under study. However, some differences were observed in the size of elevation on the corpus between pollen grains of the same species and between the parental species. This study of the pollen grain morphology of the corpus and saccus provided some important new data.